Rogue Genetics
by Ryu the Dragon Demon
Summary: When an escaped Pokémorph is discovered after 3 years on the run, and things can only get...better? Along with teams Magma, Aqua and Rocket finding her, so does a boy. Read as people join them, and these teens and their Pokémon struggle to survive!
1. Ch1: A Chase and the Past

Author's note:

Well we all knew this had to happen. I had to back and re-write this because it was frankly terrible. I was tired of saying, "Yeah, you should read it…the first sixteen or so chapters are terrible but it gets better after that."

No more. A new start, up to scratch. This marks the new beginning. It's all the old content, with more detail and updated characters. I just rephrased everything, changed some stories. So you'll want to reread it. For example, for those who understand the term Gaby was an undeniable sue…So I'm changing her slightly. She'll end up where she is now but on a slightly different path. As I said, all the events are the same, so if you don't want to read it you don't have to…

But you should.

Sincerely,

Ryu T.

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Green blurs were all that were seen by the 18 year old girl, lying flat against her Skarmory's neck as he pushed forward through the brush. The outstretched branches did little to the metal exterior of the steel-flying type, and the girl, so close to the bird-like Pokémon, was not bothered by them either. Behind her, three people were in pursuit, more hindered by the forest's natural defences, yelling curses at her and screaming for her to stop.

The girl let a grin whip across her face, and she said something to her Pokémon companion. The Skarmory stopped instantly, turn around and bracing its knees to prevent skidding. Its eyes were set with a determined look that match the one of his rider, even if hers was currently hidden. Her head was bent, muscles tense, and she slipped into the shadows of two tall trees, the Skarmory following. She grabbed two Pokéballs from the beaten-up holster around her waist, and waited.

Her pursuers caught up, breathing hard. Of the three, two male and one female. The female was in front, slim with brown hair, in her late twenties, and wearing the traditional Team Rocket outfit. The male to her right was bulkier, with blonde hair, in his late thirties, wearing gear that Team Magma traditionally supplied it members with. The last one of the trio was younger, with black hair, in his mid twenties, garbed in the Team Aqua costume. The Aqua member looked the most impatient and nervous, while the other two remained calm.

"We know you're there," The woman said, not directing her voice anywhere specific. She turned as she spoke, "You've managed to escape us for five years, but we have news for you…Teams Magma and Aqua are with us now, and with their added manpower and technological support, finding you has been a synch."

"Don't act like Team Aqua likes this alliance," the youngest man spat, earning a glare from the Magma. The third person ignored their childish behaviour and faced before them.

"So, you must be 001," The woman said, directing her words at the form in the shadows. "You managed to escape us for 5 years, but thanks to team Magma and team Aqua's help, we've been able to finally track you down."

"That's it?" Said the Aqua "You're telling me you needed our help to get this kid? Man, and I thought Magma was weak…" The man from Team Magma ignored this, and the Rocket simply looked annoyed.

"And I didn't think Team Aqua was so stupid," the Team Magma man retorted, arms folded. "Pokémorphs aren't idiots. But go ahead, underestimate her! I'll laugh when you're dead."

"Yeah, but it still doesn't look that tough. Besides, it's a _girl_." The Aqua muttered to his feet. The Rocket tapped her fingers on her leg irritably, trying not to rise. The girl in the shadows could hardly suppress a laugh.

"You can't even see it!" the Magma said exasperatedly, throwing his arms up in frustration at the young man's inexplicable lack of intelligence.

"Will you two _shut up_?!" the Rocket shouted finally, whipping around and staring at the two men. "We've found the first human and Legendary Pokémon fusion created by man that's succeeded, and you _imbeciles_ are more interested in screeching at each other like little girls!" She put her head in her hands and shook it from side to side. "Honestly…"

During this conversation, the girl had had the opportunity to flee, but didn't. She was tired of running, as she had been doing for five years. Instead she thought of her past, what had gotten her in the first place. That awful day, awaking for the first time in 7 years. Her fists clenched tight around the Pokéballs as she thought back

---------

_Black. Warm, supporting, Comforting and comfortable. Her universe for 7 years was blackness, an enveloping darkness with the absence of any real light._

_And then something new, after a very long sleep. Something tugging at her mind, a strange impulse awaking her sleeping brain. Telling her to do something…what was it asking?_

Open your eyes.

_The thought came through and went through her brain with the speed and urgency of a Slowpoke. It was a curious thing to have a coherent thought, tickled her mind. So she tried it again, letting it pass through her with the strange impulse accompanied with it._

Open your eyes.

_When she thought this, she felt part of her twitch. Physical movement…something definitely new. She let the idea float through again, and this time let her body do what it wanted. Her eyelids peeled apart, slowly, after remaining locked for so long._

_Instantly she regretted this and shut them again. Something other than blackness had come through, something terrifying and disorienting. Made her lose her bearings and focus, frightened her._

Open them again.

_The thoughts were intrusive this time. Some part of her was willing her body to do this, something she didn't want to do. She didn't want to let the light…that was the word for it. Light. The light was a bad thing. The darkness was good, but her body was saying let the light inside._

Open them. Now.

_Slowly she obeyed the silent command from inside her, and slowly opened her eyes again. She found if she did it slowly enough and closed them quickly, it was easier. She did this several times. Blinking. That was what it was called…words started to float into her mind slowly, piece by piece._

_She could tell now why opening them had been so physically hard. She was still feeling the blackness, but there was whiteness and blueness all around her now. She was floating, contained in something…_

Turn your head.

_She tried to turn her head and found that there was little resistance. She was in a container made of…Glass. Shiny glass filled with something like…water. But thicker._

_Fear struck through her temporary wonder as she saw a host of white things outside her space. Then she recognized them as people, all wearing white coats, looking at her, making notes on their little boards and papers (the words were coming faster now, thoughts started to go through her mind less sluggishly). Distorted by the glass and liquid they looked monstrous._

Scream.

_She recoiled and tried to open her mouth to cry out. The fluid was all inside her lungs, supplying her with oxygen, but she could make no sound._

_More fear. Voice cut off, trapped. Her heart rate jumped, and the people outside started moving, their faces muddied and bouncing in the reflections in the glass and water as they walked. Disorienting. Scaring._

Move your body.

_She tried moving her arms and legs. No resistance. It was at this point she realized there were wires attached to her, stuck to her, inside her. Things were inside her. Things not part of her body were in her arms, her legs, her chest, her neck…She reached her arm up. They were in her head, too. She felt along her back, and tried to scream involuntarily. There were things, not human things, attached to her. She tugged at them and found that they hurt. They were a part of her. She felt down lower…There was something attached to her lower back…It felt soft, like feathers, and sleek. She tugged and felt it both in her hands and straining at her back. More confusion._

Move it.

_She tried. It responded and curled around in front of her. She looked down at it, curiously. It was silver-white, covered in watertight feathers and sloped gently to a soft point. Near the end were to blue flaps protruding parallel to each other, and she could wiggle those as well. Fascinated, she moved it for a while, then saw her feet. They were also covered in the smooth feathers, were very long and had three rounded-tipped, rectangular toes._

_She remembered she should have five toes. That was what people had. She also remembered people didn't have tails. Or floated in water in class cages. Or had wires coming out of their bodies._

_Panic. Adrenaline flooded her system and she looked around, terrified. Everything was so bright, she wanted so badly to just return to the world of silent, cozy blackness. But now she could hear the sloshing of the fluid in her ears, the feel of it encasing her body and lungs, see the people outside. All of this because of the light. Or was it the people?_

Get out.

_The thoughts came now rapidly, full speed, firing through her mind. Questions, urges, feelings. Everything came all at once. She wanted to cry, to scream, to breathe. She wanted out._

Get out.

_She opened her mouth again, but this time she felt a surge through her entire body. It struck like reverse lightning, coming from the bottom and coursing up through her, trying to escape. She felt herself heat up from the core and energy swirl inside her. It needed to get out, it hurt to stay inside. _

Stop hurting.

Get out.

_Her open mouth was the easiest outlet, so she let it go there. She felt a blast escape it, and suddenly an even brighter light hurt her eyes, so she shut them tight._

_Safeness. Blackness. But not silent or cozy. She opened them again when she felt herself falling, almost floating slowly. The glass was gone, and there was more light coming in. A hole was in the murky wall in front of her; she strained to see it, then suddenly slipped out. Gravity took a hold of her now, and she felt much heavier. Everything was harder to do, except think. Gravity somehow had helped that._

Breathe.

_She forced the fluid out of her lunges, bending forward and spewing it out of her mouth. Her stomach hurt, her lungs ached, and she nearly choked. Her body told her to breathe in, so she did. Air was cold, and now she was cold, but it felt lighter, made her less heavy. She gulped it down, paying no attention to the people or sounds around her. Just breathing._

You have to stand up. They want to put you back in the glass. Get out.

_She looked around. People were moving towards her carefully, the white coats. They looked like ghosts, all in white, and that scared her. She slipped backwards, trying to push herself away. Wishing she could float again._

You can. Try.

_She shut her eyes. Blackness. Not soft and inviting. But bodiless again._

_She reopened her eyes. Gravity no longer had her: she was in the air, unrestrained. One of the ghost people started to move towards her. She could hear sounds now, blaring loud noises of a siren and screams and shouting. More colors: Red flashing lights. She could see things other than the white coated people now. Other things in glass or metal. Things that looked sad or excited. Some were scary, some were shouting at her too. Others looked scared, like her, and others weren't moving at all. Some looked like people, some looked like Pokémon, and some had tails like her._

This is a bad place. Get out.

_She opened her mouth again and felt the rush of energy. The scientists screamed and backed away as she fired another blast from her mouth, destroying glass and metal. Other people rushed around now, and chaos broke out. Noise. So much noise. She clamped her hands to her head and held it, shaking. She could feel herself cry now, hear her voice. Something was comforting in this, and she screamed._

_Someone started to come towards her, saying things to her, but in the noise she couldn't hear or understand. Fright._

Get away. Get out.

_She shut her eyes. Return to darkness, safety. She felt something welling up inside her, then her body began to drift. The volume in the room intensified and she threw out her arms, crying, but her voice was different. It was lower, fuller, huger. Then she, for a split second, was light as nothingness. She was blackness. She had gotten back to comfort and stability._

You can't. You have to come back. There is no darkness anymore.

Be.

_She felt herself rematerialize, pull herself together and reform. The place was different now. It was not wet where she was…but she didn't want to open her eyes. It smelled different. Not like people and fluid and a strong smell that stung her nose and mouth. Fresh, salty. The ground below her was unstable and shifted, and she kept feeling wetness touch her, then leave. The sound was different. It was quiet, peaceful. The cries of bird Pokémon came around her, much better than the screams and sirens. She sat for a while, eyes closed, in this, calming down. Then a new voice entered her thoughts. It was male, and though it was not her thinking, it gave a sense of safety and love._

"_You can open your eyes. You're safe now,"_ _he said. She bit her lip and obeyed. Before her was a large Pokémon, sitting down on his hind legs. He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen: Large, silver-white and streamline, with a long neck and tail, blue stomach and flaps along its back, and a sloping head ending in a point. His reddish-amber eyes were surrounded by blue triangles that pointed backwards, and his huge silvery wings were folded at its sides._

_She noticed where she was now: A beach somewhere, with soft golden sand beneath her and curious white and blue bird Pokémon flying above her and the giant creature with curiosity. The sky was cloudy, but it was still light outside. There was no sign of the people from before. Just this one awesome Pokémon in front of her._

Talk.

"_What…" she managed to say. The words were hard to manipulate and get around her tongue, though she knew she could do this somehow. She knew the words. "What…" She tried again, but they deserted her. The creature looked patiently at her, and lowered his head to her level. She instinctively floated up and lay her whole self on it, feeling the soft feathers._

"_I'm scared," she said, nuzzling into his face. She felt a wing go around her gently, covering her. It felt like darkness, soft and warm. "I'm scared…What happened?"_

"I don't know…" He responded, but looked at her and raised his muzzle up. "But you're safe now. Sleep…Gabrielle."  


_She felt her eyelids droop, whether from the Pokémon's influence or her own exhaustion. How he knew her name, she did not know, but some part of her felt complete knowing it. She floated up onto his back and felt him lie down and rest his head on the ground, and she snuggled into the softness, feeling very small. Slowly she drifted off, and happily regained darkness again. No more light, only dark. __Comforting and comfortable. Warm, supporting. Blackness._

---------

She snapped her eyes open. The absolute darkness morphed into a lighter one, the shadows she stood in conforming to her, blocking the light. These three with the light, exposing her as the light had when she first awoke, but now she was not afraid of it. Now she was just angry at it, and she glared at the trio. No fear, only the savage need, after reliving her first moments of real memory, for revenge.

"Five years…"She said slowly, and they stopped arguing amongst themselves immediately. She chuckled. "It took you five whole years just to find me. You're…Pathetic. All of you." Her eyes flashed, literally. The three looked startled from the sudden orangey-white glow coming from the shadow. "You can't be very much of a threat. So if you'll excuse me…" The glow receded. "I'll be on my way."

"J-Just be on your way?" The Rocket said, laughing nervously. "No, we can't have that. You're much to valuable for us to just give up on you!"

"Yeah. If you'll come with me like a good little girlie, no harm will come to you or your Pokémon," Added the Magma, feeling bold.

"Oh yes, sure," the girl retorted. Her words dripped with sarcasm, and they felt more like they were talking to a teenager for a moment than an escaped and dangerous experiment. " 'Good little girlie'? Do you think I'm just gonna come quietly?!" Her volume rose, her hands clenched. "Just because you say so? I'm going to walk back to a cage and let you poke me and prod me and run tests one me and probably kill me? Hell no!"

"So, you wanna fight, eh?" the Aqua said, stepping forward. His pride damaged, he was eager to prove his worth to the Rocket and show up the Magma. This girl was nothing but hype and hot talk…he could beat her.

"You sad excuse for a trainer...Why would I fight a grunt?" She said viciously, hands holding the red and white spheres. She couldn't doubt herself. She couldn't keep running. Today, she was going to stop fleeing and face this nuisance, this hate, this anger without an outlet. "Then again, if I send you all back broken then they might get the message."

"Big talk, little girl," The Magma said, readying his Pokémon as well.

"If you're so confident, then step out where we can see you!" The Rocket challenged, pulling out a Ball as well.

She waited for a moment. A pause. She could hop back on the Skarmory and flee, probably outrun them…or she could take this risk. The choice was obvious. She lifted her silver-feathered, 3 toed foot off the ground and stepped forward out of the shadows. Their eyes widened as they saw her, and the young Aqua nearly fell to the ground in shock.

"Yeah," she said, her mouth curving into a triumphant smirk. "Bring it!"


	2. Ch2: Battle Royale

Author's Note: This is a reworked chapter! There will be continuity errors between this and the rest of the story (the largest being that Gaby no longer has a Charizard :O I just couldn't see how she could get a hold of one), so just understand that if you continue to read.

- M "R.T." C

The Aqua threw out two Pokéballs. Out of them erupted a Sneasel and a Magcargo.

"Are you gonna fight, or what?" he asked, sneering down at her. "Or are you really just a prissy little wimp?"

The girl said nothing, and instead simply stood, wreathed in the shadows of the surrounding trees, standing at the ready, two Balls in hand. The Skarmory pawed at the ground with its feet restlessly beside her. Slipping the two minimized Balls into one hand, she stroked its beak, never breaking eye contact with the Rocket.

"Don't underestimate her," said the woman clad in the Rocket uniform. She looked back into those eerie red-brown eyes uneasily. "She probably has a way with Pokémon that we can't begin to understand."

_Funny_, she thought. Her eyes narrowed. The Rocket stepped back, just a little.

_She's afraid of me. She knows what I've done, and what I can do. At least a little._

"She can't be _that_ good."

The girl smiled widely. She almost felt like laughing.

"Big talk…" she said quietly. Her hand fell from the Skarmory's snout as she stepped forward to face the battlefield.

"But _stupid_!"

As she said the word, her hand flew out towards the Magma to the Aqua's left. The air around it rippled, like the summer surrounded it, distorted and shimmering. Then the Magma flew backwards into a tree, crying in pain from the impact. Dried nettles rained onto his head as he floated there, pinned, his hands and feet rolling in their sockets as he tried to free himself from the invisible Psychic force holding him.

"Like my powers? Oh, you can't escape until I let you go. Stop trying," she said mockingly. The Magma nevertheless continued to struggle against his unseen bonds. "I fact, I don't have to battle at all. But I don't get to battle people ever, so you'll do!" She stared venomously at the Aqua, who looked in terror to the Rocket to help. She had backed up several more paces, and was staring at the Magma with a fixed look of fear.

"Shall we start?" she asked, enlarging the two orbs in her hand.

The Aqua looked terrified, but nodded. Duty to his Team came before his fear, and he set his stance as she threw the Balls into the air and cried,

"GO! TROUBLE AND AVIRA!"

Out of the Pokéballs materialized a Pidgeot and a Ninetales. The two cried out upon entering the battlefield, and sized up their opponents.

The Aqua stepped back in fear. His mind froze; this trainer was supposed to be weak, having been too young to have started as a Trainer before her original capture. How, in three short years, could an amateur (at best) have two fully evolved Pokémon?

"Sneasel…" he stammered, pointing shakily at the Pidgeot, who he considered the weaker target. "Slash attack!"

The Sneasel lunged towards the majestic bird, claws extended, aiming to do serious damage to the right wing. With a sweep of her hand, the Pidgeot's trainer signalled for it to dodge. It did so in a flash, driving down into the forest floor and beating its wings hard. It swooped back and settled behind her, as she beckoned the Skarmory to take its place.

"Wha-WHAT?" The Aqua stammered. "How…What the…?"

"Avira, Flamethrower that Sneasel!" she cried. The Ninetales howled and shot out a thin but hot stream of flames at the Ice-Dark type, wounding it badly.

The Aqua gaped at the amount of damage done to his precious Sneasel. He managed to recover, and tried to cry his next commands, but the girl cut him off.

"Slicksilver! Steel wing that Magcargo, _now_!"

The Skarmory obeyed, and seemed to have, though it may have been a trick of the light, a glint in its eye, as though enjoying hurting its master's enemy.

The attack hit the Magcargo full force, and not only that, but in a weak spot, too. Unlike his lucky partner, who had hung on by the skin of its teeth, the Magcargo did not get up again.

'Yeah! One hit KO!" the trainer cheered. "Am I a baby now?" She taunted. Wrapped in the shadows as she was, they couldn't see her hands triumphantly on her hips, nor the grin on her face.

The Aqua was paralyzed with the shock of having his Magcargo taken down with only one shot. His Sneasel wouldn't last this turn. He was done for.

"Sneasel! Faint attack that Skarmory!" the Aqua said. At least this HAD to hit.

The Sneasel disappeared, then reappeared behind the Skarmory. It attacked, then disappeared and reappeared again in its spot. The Skarmory, however, did not take much damage. It shook off the weak attack, ruffling its red and grey wings, then stood straight, staring down the terrified looking Sneasel.

"Avira, finish it off! Give it another taste of fire!"

The Ninetales stood elegantly, turning her head and firing at the Sneasel again. It attempted to run, but was caught, and collapsed, smoking.

"My…My Pokémon!" the Aqua exclaimed, quickly returning his remaining Pokémon. "My Pokémon! And they didn't even scratch you! My best Pokémon…" The girl smirked at him in satisfaction.

"Well then, if there are no further objections, I'll take my leave." The girl paused. "No...I think _you'd_ better start running, don't you think?"

The Magma pinned to the tree fell hard. There was a snap, and a cry of pain. His ankle had broken from the fall. The Aqua fled with no regard for his fallen comrade, disappearing into the trees. The Rocket girl, however, sent out a Rapidash, and helped her fallen teammate onto him. He groaned with the pain, and the girl watched with a sick pleasure. The Rocket took one look back at the shadowy form, then mounted the Rapidash herself, digging her heels into its sides, and took off through the trees.

She watched them until no trace of the fiery tail could be seen through the trees. She grinned and turned back to her Ninetales as it snuggled its head into her hand. She pet her a few times, then returned her to her Ball.

"Well then, Slick" the trainer said, turning to her Skarmory. "Weren't we going for a ride before we were interrupted?"

The Skarmory nodded. There was no damage done to it.

"Shall we contin-"

She was cut short by a swishing sound, and the sound of snapping twigs. Every muscle in her body tensed. Her hand flew to her waist, ready to send out Avira again if she had to. Were they really so stupid that they'd come back, trying to catch her off-guard?

"You battle like a pro! You're definitely! the best I've ever seen. I don't stand a chance against you! What's your name? Please tell me your name!"

A boy stumbled out of the trees in front of her, his pantleg caught on a low bush. He tugged at it as the waterfall of words tumbled from his mouth. He nearly fell over when he was freed, but stayed righted. He stared into the shadowy figure in the trees, who stared back. He waited, bright eyed, for an answer, which eventually came after a long, confused silence:

_"Who the hell ARE you?"_


	3. Ch3:Please?

Author's Note: I've gotten more than a few reviews complaining about the Sueness of the story. Please understand that I'm fully aware of this, that I wrote this 8 years ago when I was 11 or 12, and that yes, my writing abilities have improved since then (meaning yes, I have weeded as much sue out as I can short of killing her, which is actually a substantial amount). The story is in the process of being rewritten; I am trying to balance between fixing the old chapters and the new. I apologize for any offense or annoyment these earlier chapters cause, and I urge you to look past it and enjoy the story for what it is, with the promise that yes, it does get better; I grow up and learn that self insertion stories are only fun for me to read.

Hope you enjoy it! This one is NOT reworked yet, there will be a note indicating that it is when it has been.

* * *

The figure stepped forward into the light. It was a boy, no older then 15, standing there with a strange look on his face. He looked like he had just been told he was the luckiest guy in the world. It kinda looked like just looking at this trainer made him the luckiest in the world.

"Well, who the hell are you?" the trainer asked again, looking the boy. Who was this kid?

"Sorry, I should've introduced myself," the boy said, extending a hand. "Kip Veeson, from Lilycove City. You?"

The trainer looked at the hand uncertainly. What if this was a trap? Then again… Her Skarmory nudged her closer. If he trusts this stranger, so do I. The girl took his hand and shook it.

"Gaby. Just Gaby." The girl trainer said.

"Gaby? Well Gaby, you were amazing back there! How did you master Pokémon so well?"

"I…Uh…" The trainer named Gaby wasn't used to taking questions. In fact, she wasn't used to ANY questions at all, living on the run and by herself.

"That's OK, you don't have to answer. But please tell me, what Pokémon do you have?" the boy named Kip pleaded.

The trainer stepped back. Why was he so prying? Maybe he wasn't good after all.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I'm an OK Pokémon trainer who wants to know how to battle. You are SO good, I thought you might be able to help me. I've only been in Pokémon for a year. You look like you've been at it for 20 years! How old are you? Where you from? Can I travel with you?"

Eyeing the boy like he was crazy, Gaby stepped away.

"Are you from Team Rocket or something? Why on earth would you like to travel with me?" Gaby said. And, she thought to herself, why risk your life every day. Why, just being SEEN with a Pokémorph (Especially Gaby) could get you killed! This guy must be desperate…

"Team Rocket? No way! I hate those Pokémon abusing freaks! Why?"

"Just wondering…" Gaby said. He didn't seem to know what she was. "Well, as for your first question, I think I'm 16. For your second, I have no idea. Finally, NO!"

"No? Why not?" Kip asked. Why was this girl not accepting him? And why was she always in shadow? Why won't she come into the light?

"Listen. Do you want to get killed? No? Then don't come with me!" Gaby said. What did this kid want?

"But…All I ever wanted was to be this great Pokémon trainer!" Kip said. What was this girl's problem? Was she a criminal or something? "Why will I get killed? And why are you hiding?"

The girl sighed. He wasn't going away. Well, maybe if she showed him what she was, he might leave her alone.

"Why am I hiding?" Gaby said. "I'll tell you why. Ever here of those genetically altered Pokémon freaks that go through a long hard journey to get changed back?"

Kip nodded. What was she going on about?

"Well, let's just say I'm one of those few who don't change back."

Kip was confused. What did she mean, 'I'm one of those few who don't change back?' But he was confused no longer when Gaby stepped out of the shadows and into a beam of light.

Gaby wore tattered old jeans with a dirty white t-shirt that looked like it hadn't seen a washing machine for some time. On her head was white bandanna. Well, it was supposed to be white. Now it looked it had been run through the mill. She had long, dirty blond hair that ran free under the bandanna. But, like she had said, she wasn't completely human.

Smooth, white-silver feathers covered three-toed feet. A long tail poked out of her jeans, also silvery-white, but with oval shaped blue feathers lining both the sides. But her most stunning feature were her eyes. Pointed fins extended from her eyes to the back of her ears. They were pointed at the ends. But the eyes inside the fins were sea-blue and sparkled like the sea. They seemed to see more then what a regular person could see.

Kip stepped back in awe.

"You're a…a…" he stuttered.

"I'm a…a… what?" Gaby said. NOW he understood.

"You're a Pokémorph! But I don't care! In fact, it makes me want to join you even more! And this explains your superior understanding of Pokémon."

"Wha-WHAT?" Gaby said, startled. "You still wanna go with me? You're crazier then I thought!"

"Please?"

"NO!"

Kip looked away into the trees. Suddenly he jumped.

"There's a Rocket! Over there!"

Gaby looked to where he was looking. Sure enough, a Rocket Executive was standing there, a wide grin on his face.

"Oh, the Boss will surely give me a promotion if I give him this girl!' He said, taking out two Pokéballs. "This must be the one they're looking for! The half-breed! Come on now, come with me and no-one will get hurt."

"And why would I go with you?"

"Oh, just because…" The Rocket said, a sneer curling at his lips. "If you don't come with me, I'll take you're little boyfriend here!"

"B-BOYFRIEND?" Gaby said, a look of horror on her face (Anime style). "Man, Rockets are more messed up then I thought. Boyfriend? Listen, I haven't known this idiot for 5 minutes and you call him my boyfriend? Tell me, are the words, 'I'm an idiot' in your vocabulary?"

Kip looked terrified for the same reason. At the same time, Gaby and Kip took a step away from each other, creating a distance of 5 feet between them.

Big mistake.

The Rocket grabbed Kip by the hair and pulled him away before Gaby could do anything. Gaby lunged, but the distance she had created took time to cover. The Rocket then threw down four metal half circles. Throwing Kip inside, he pressed a button on a panel, making a tall green force field appear. Kip looked terrified.

"Leave him out of this, Rocket! He's not involved!" Gaby shouted at the man. "If it's me you want, then take me, but leave this kid out of it!"

"Ooh, getting touchy about your boyfriend?" The Rocket said, a look on his face that suggested he was really enjoying himself. "Well, if you want him, give yourself up to me."

"Like I'd do that! I can just beat you in a Pokémon battle! Why would I give myself up without a fight?" Gaby said. But even as she said it, she could tell that this man knew something that she didn't. And something to his advantage. Stupid kid! Why did he have to show up and get himself involved?

"Because if you don't come with me, I'll take him instead of you and we will perform tests on him. Of course, the chance of him surviving the procedure are slim, as you are the first and only human ever to survive, but, since you don't care about him, I'm sure you'll just leave him."

Damn, Gaby thought. Well, that was the easy way out. Now for plan 2.

"LEAVE!" Gaby shouted. Nothing happened. "LEAVE! GO AWAY!" Still, nothing. "I don't get it! What happened?"

The Rocket laughed. "Like our new devices? Psychic Pokémon get very angry when you try to experiment on them. So, naturally, we made a device that stops all psychic activity in the area. Pity I didn't arrive before the others got here. I could have saved them a long journey in the desert." He laughed again. "But, too late now!"

The Rocket's hand went inside a black bag and drew out a net and a electronic collar. He held them up so everyone could see.

"So what's it going to be? You or him?"

Gaby's eyes darted back and forth. She knew exactly what would happen. Rockets never held to their word, so if she said she could go with him, they'd take both. If she said she wouldn't go, then they'd take him and come back for her. Of course, they could never catch her, but poor Kip would die unless he could escape. Damn!

After a minute, Gaby lifted her eyes to Kip's. They looked scared, like he was backed into a corner with only one escape, and that was if he would loose something that he would never want to loose. Gaby finally made up her mind. What else could she do?

Gaby started, in a shaky voice. "I…I…"


	4. Ch4:Fight for life

"I...I...I'll go."  
  
The Rocket, wasting no time in case she changed her mind, slipped on the collar. Even as he was doing so, Gaby was thinking of a new tactic.  
  
Gaby, in final desperation, sang. Not just any song.  
  
Lugia's song.  
  
A blinding flash lit the area. During the flash, Gaby's body was turning into a Lugia's. First the feet, then the torso and the tail, then the arms, and finally the head. If one could have witnessed this transformation, it would have been described as a graceful blend of two worlds, changing from one from to the next.  
  
When the light subsided, a fully formed Lugia stood where Gaby had been standing. There was a distinct difference, however, in the eye colour. Normally, a Lugia's eyes would be sea-blue and peaceful. However, strange things happened in that lab 5 years ago. Instead of a peaceful blue, they were a blazing, fiery red.  
  
The Rocket looked up terrified, and Kip looked up in wonder. The Rocket hit a button on his belt. Kip tried to read the button's label, but to no avail.  
  
The Lugia suddenly took off straight at the Rocket. The Rocket cowered and ducked. But surprisingly, the Lugia picked up the control panel in its mouth. Throwing it up in the air, the Lugia used its psychic powers to push a single button down. The barrier around Kip was lifted.  
  
The Lugia's eyes met with Kip's, and Kip understood. The Lugia was Gaby, and Gaby was asking him to run. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. However, he did not obey. He stood rooted to the spot, wanting to help his friend.  
  
The Lugia, its eyes turning to a light blue, once again met with Kip's. He didn't know what this message meant, but a second later, he understood perfectly.  
  
Kip was thrown back, dodging trees and bushes, until he was so far from the scene that he couldn't see or hear anything. Suddenly, he was dropped to the ground with a soft thud. Kip got up and started running. But by the time he got there, he was too late.  
  
Trees were smoking. Water was everywhere. A trail of blood disappeared into the trees.  
  
She was gone.  
  
Kip dropped to his knees. In front of him was a single white feather. This was all his fault. If he hadn't come, the Rocket wouldn't have had anything to bargain with and Gaby could've escaped. He felt terrible. What could he, a 15 year old, do to rescue Gaby from a team of evil and cunning Rockets with more powerful Pokémon? What could he do?  
  
He knew the answer almost right away, even as he was picking up the white feather. He knew what he had to do. He had started this, so he would finish it.  
  
He had to go after Gaby.  
  
Right after Gaby had sent Kip away, a horde of Aquas, Magmas, and Rockets had come swarming to the scene. Gaby had blasted this way and that, thrashing, bleeding, until she had finally collapsed. Another flash of light, and a bloody body lay on the ground. Bloody, and barely alive. The 3 teams had carried her off carefully, so as not to kill their creation. Blood streamed out of numerous wounds, including one from her head. Her tail, feet, torso, arms, and legs were all bleeding simultaneously.  
  
"We got to get this girl out of here!" A female Rocket said. "She'll die if we don't get help!"  
  
"Yeah, well, if it cuts my pay raise, then I'll hurry!" said one of the male Aquas.  
  
"But what about this girl's life? Don't you have a heart?" The female Rocket retorted.  
  
"Uh, no!" The Aqua said, laughing. Soon others joined in laughing at this 15 year old Rocket.  
  
"Fine! I'll take care of her myself!" The girl retorted. She pressed a button on her belt that read 'Communicator'. She spoke now to the microphone at her ear.  
  
"Sir, the morph is in our custody, but she's close to death. We need serious back up NOW!"  
  
On the other end of the microphone, there was clearly a reply, because the Rocket pushed the button again and looked at the Aqua.  
  
"He's sent out a medical crew. Ha!" The Aqua walked away with his buddies, mumbling angrily. The girl smiled, satisfied.  
  
A few minutes later, the Pokémorph named Gaby was in a medical copter, and recovering. She'd lost a lot of blood, and was in a coma, but her body was stabilizing. The coma, on the other hand, was a problem.  
  
"What are we gonna tell the Boss?!?! 'Sorry, you can't see her right now. She's in a coma. Come again soon!' ?!?!?"  
  
"I don't know, but if the Boss really wants to see her, then we have no choice!"  
  
"But like that girl said, doesn't anyone care about this girl's life other then getting a pay raise?"  
  
"I care! She's a revolutionary breakthrough!"  
  
"I care too. She is, after all, the first and only of her kind!"  
  
"Call the Wildlife Foundation! We have an endangered species here! Please, ta-"  
  
The conversation was cut short by a soft rustling. Both Rockets looked down. The girl was moving, and suddenly her eyes flickered open. The Rockets gasped. Instead of blue, as they had been told they usually were, they were...  
  
Blood Red.  
  
The girl sat up suddenly, and lunged at one of the Rockets, knocking him down. She started clawing at his face in a blind rage. The second Rocket took a needle filled with some blue liquid and stuck it into the girl's arm. She looked at the Rocket who had stuck the needle in her arm, then fell limp.  
  
"What... What did you inject her with?" The Rocket who had been attacked asked. He got up shakily. Red marks were all over his face and neck.  
  
"A tranquillizer formula. Maximum strength. She'll be out for a few hours."  
  
"Well, at least this solves our coma problem!" They both laughed cruelly, looking down on the girl.  
  
2 hours later, the helicopter landed. The two Rockets carried the girl out of the plane. Many of the spectators gasped at the marks on the Rocket's face.  
  
"What happened?" "Does it hurt?" "Did it do that to you?" "You spent 3 hours with that thing?!"  
  
All of these questions and more rang out from the crowd. The Rocket only answered, "Yeah, and if you don't want to get hurt, get out of the way!"  
  
The Rockets took the limp body into the headquarters. They turned left, right, right again, left, and finally right. They stopped at a metal door with a key pad on it. The first Rocket extended a hand and punched in the code, 2268742. The door opened slowly, and the Rockets stepped inside as the door started to close behind them.  
  
They were in a large, white room filled with cages and test tubes and every other thing you could think of in a science lab and more. Strange creature floated in test tubes and sat in cages. If Gaby had been awake, she would have screamed, because almost all of the creations were dead.  
  
The scientists put the limp form of Gaby into one of the glass cages. Once the glass was sealed, a force field appeared. The glass was impenetrable from the inside, and you had to get past the force field first.  
  
Gaby was trapped. 


	5. Ch5:Where am I?

Kip sat for some time, trying to gather up his courage to go after Gaby. In truth, he was terrified of what might happen to him if he was caught. He didn't want to think about it.  
  
There were also a few problems he had to take care of, the first and most crucial being he had to find out where Gaby was in the first place.  
  
Then he had to get there. He had no map, and didn't want to waste time trying to find a good one. Gaby was in trouble now, and he had to get to where she was in the fastest way possible.  
  
Then there was the problem of food, for him and his Pokémon. He couldn't just walk into a restaurant, there was no time. He didn't have enough money for food, either.  
  
The last problem was the fact that Kip wasn't a strong trainer, and, though he had undying faith in his Pokémon, their physical capabilities made them mortal. He guessed there were at least 50 Rockets in hide out, plus about 20 from Aqua and Magma. With no Pokémon Centers between, how in the world was he supposed to take down 90 trainers?  
  
Kip stared out into the trees, tears stinging his eyes. It was all his fault. All his-  
  
Kip suddenly jumped up. Something had moved in the forest. Or had it just been his imagination?  
  
The leaves rustled again. No, it wasn't his imagination. But what was it?  
  
That question was answered almost immediately. Of course! Gaby didn't have her Pokémon when she was captured! That meant they were still here!  
  
"Help!" Kip cried. "Help! I need your help!"  
  
Suddenly, a blood-covered Skarmory tumbled out of the trees. It staggered around, finally stopping. It looked with one eye at Kip, then nodded. Kip ran to his bag, took out a Super Potion, and used it on the Skarmory. Then he took a cloth and cleared away the blood. The wounds had healed.  
  
The Skarmory suddenly whistled. It pierced the air like a gunshot. Kip covered his ears. After a few seconds, the Skarmory stopped. All was silent. Then, more movment from behind the trees. 4 Pokémon and one Pokéball came out from behind the trees and joined the Skarmory.  
  
Kip stared in wonder at all the Pokémon. Man, he thought, Gaby IS really good!!!  
  
In front of him(other then the Skarmory) was a Dragonite, a blue Charizard, a Meganium, and a Pidgeot. In the Charizard's hand was a bright blue Pokéball. The Charizard extended its hand towards Kip. Kip opened his hands. The Charizard dropped it into them.  
  
The ball was bright blue everywhere, save for a red spot in the top. Inside the dot, there was a single letter: L.  
  
Kip looked at it, then at the Charizard. What was he supposed to do?  
  
"Do it throw it?" Kip asked uncertainly. The Charizard nodded. "Alright! If you say so!"  
  
The ball went whizzing through the air. A flash of blue-white light, and the ball was back in Kip's hand. But what he saw almost made him drop it again. Standing high above him, was a Lugia.  
  
Kip looked up at it, amazed. No one had EVER caught a Lugia before, dead or alive. To find himself face-to-face with one was overwhelming. Still, Kip stood his ground, and said,  
  
"I...I need your help."  
  
The Lugia nodded, and pointed his head in the direction of the Pidgeot. Kip turned his head to look, and saw that the Pidgeot was hovering off the ground, its wings flapping. Then all the other Pokémon, except for the Meganium, started to take off too. The Meganium simply touched its Pokéball and disappeared inside. Kip picked it up and put it in his bag.  
  
While he was over by the Pokéball, he noticed that there was another bag, blue in colour, resting in front of a tree. He picked it up, realizing it was Gaby's. It contained tons of berries, a map, and many other things. Most importantly, it contained the other Pokémon's Pokéballs.  
  
Kip turned around, and saw the Lugia again. He walked back into the middle of the clearing, and turned around again. As soon as he had, a whoosh of air went flowing past him, and he was in the air, unsupported, and falling. Then he was on smooth, soft white feathers. He opened his eyes, and found that he was riding on the Lugia's back. They were in a procession: The Pidgeot, then the Skarmory, then the Charizard, and finally the Lugia. The Pidgeot seemed to know where it was going, and, by the looks of it, the others were following. Kip realized that they were going to the hide out. And, with his and Gaby's forces combined, he would be able to set her free.  
  
The only thing was, would they get there in time?  
  
Where...Where am I?  
  
Gaby woke up on a cold, hard floor. All around her, a glare affected everything. Suddenly Gaby realized she was in a cage. She jumped up, and reached for her backpack, but it was gone.  
  
My Pokémon! Gaby thought. Where...I must have dropped it when I was fighting!  
  
Fighting... The memories came flooding back. The executive... The battle... The blood... And... Kip. It all came back to Kip. That kid... It was all his fault that she was here.  
  
Where was here, anyway? Ignoring the glare, Gaby looked around the room. Everything was white: The walls, floors, tables, and the ceiling. People with clipboards walked around the room, making notes on clipboards or talking to each other. On one of the clipboards, Gaby could read:  
  
Name: ?  
Test number: 001  
Height: 5'6"  
Weight: 92 lbs.  
Place found: Around Fortree City  
When: 1700 on 3/24/2054  
Current special abilities: Is a Pokémorph. Has many powers in human form. For complete list, see head  
of Genetics department  
Future tests and dates:  
3/26/2054: Genetic alteration  
3/29/2054: Habits under stress  
4/1/2054: Genetic alteration  
Further schedules unknown at this time.  
WARNINGS:  
If eye colour changes, do not approach If Psychic blocker fails and tests are to be done or if you are handling  
001, PUT HER IN THE CAGE IMMEDIATELY If force field is brought down, evacuate immediately unless you know the  
code to bring it back. If known, replace.  
If force field AND Cage is unsealed, EVACUATE THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY  
UNLESS YOU ARE DIRECTED BY A SUPERIOR OTHERWISE OR YOU ARE A HEAD OF A  
DEPARTMENT  
ONLY handle if you have authorization  
  
The scientist with the sign walked over to Gaby's cage and Placed it up  
on a hook on the outside. After she had finished placing the sign, she  
glanced over at Gaby. She took a step back in surprise, then called over  
the rest of the scientists milling around the lab. All of them rushed  
around, talking. It was so noisy that Gaby couldn't make out a word. But  
from the body language, they were really excited about something, and  
Gaby had a good idea what.  
  
Suddenly, a tall man stepped forward out of the sea of scientists. He  
looked at Gaby as though he knew her, but Gaby didn't recognize him at  
all.  
  
"So here she is, after 5 years of searching, the infamous 001," The man  
said. "We've been waiting for you to come back, Gaby. Tell me, how did  
you escape us for so long?"  
  
"Well mister, I've got a few questions for you!" Gaby said. "Who the hell  
are you?"  
  
"I am Dr. Sakio. I am your creator."  
  
Gaby looked at him in awe. 


	6. Ch6:Testing

"You bastard! You're the reason I'm like this! When I get out of here, I'll kill you!"  
  
"Oh, I don't think you'll get the chance. You see, your Psychic powers won't affect here unless the system's turned off. But there's no chance of that happening."  
  
"Then I'll rip you apart with my bare hands!" Gaby was in such a rage that her eyes turned form green to the colour of fresh blood. Many scientist backed away.  
  
"Ooh, touchy?" He said mockingly. "Well, you need not be for long. We have a way to make you co-operate."  
  
"Yeah? What?"  
  
"Bring him!"  
  
Two scientists carried the limp body of a 15-year-old boy to Gaby's cage.  
  
"KIP! Why did you take him? He's not involved!" Gaby said, glancing over at Kip's unconscious form. Why... Those evil...Those wretches...  
  
"Oh, but he is!" The man said. "You see, every time you don't cooperate, we'll do something to him. We'll do whatever we want to him depending on your behaviour. If you're good, we won't touch him. If you disobey, then we make small changes to his genetic structure, so to speak."  
  
"How can I trust a Rocket? Why are you any different?"  
  
The man looked away angrily. All these questions...But she wouldn't cooperate unless he told her...  
  
"I can't lie. I must stay true to my word."  
  
"Why? Why can't you lie?"  
  
"Because... Can you lie?"  
  
"No, Pokémorphs can't lie. What... You're a Pokémorph?!?!"  
  
"Yes and no. You indeed are the first purpose creation, but I was the first accidental. Tests go wrong, kid, and sometimes you survive. Then you have to live with what you've got."  
  
He walked away and disappeared into the crowd. Then he shouted,  
  
"Oh, and don't forget. You must obey, or your little friend there will become one of to things: A Pokémorph, or dead."  
  
Gaby sat down on the cold floor of her cage, watching as they took Kip's body and put it into a cage. His eyes were closed, but not peacefully. Normally, Gaby would have jumped up and tried everything possible to get to him, but the Rocket's threat still rung in her ears. She sat still, tears welling in her eyes for sympathy of the trapped boy... Or was there something else in the tears?  
  
A team of scientists crowded around Gaby's cage. She stood up and glared at them all. They opened the cage, and took Gaby out. She did not protest, for she thought of Kip. She glanced over to his cage, and saw him moving slightly.  
  
The scientists dragged Gaby into a small room with a Table and a large capsule in the middle. Control panels and strange instruments lined the walls and floor space. Gaby knew what was going to happen, but with their threat of Kip, she could do nothing.  
  
The scientist strapped her down onto the table. One scientist grabbed a needle and injected it into Gaby's arm. Right before she passed out, she saw something strange. A teenage Rocket was standing in the doorway, looking at Gaby with pity and anger at the scientists. She stormed off, and all went black.  
  
She woke up some time later. But the first thing she felt was pain. All over her, her nerves were overloaded with every kind of pain thought possible. She cried out.  
  
She was alone her cage. Gaby looked at herself, despite the pain. No blood, no marks, except for a small needle point mark from the injection. As she was surveying herself, she noticed something she hadn't before. And a second later, she realized what it was.  
  
Her hair, which had been halfway down her back and dirty blond before, was down to her knees and white. The same colour as her feathers.  
  
They were transforming her. Even more.  
  
Gaby was suddenly brought to her senses by looking at her hair. This was too dangerous. If they continued, who knew what they might do to her? She had to escape, and she had to escape fast and quietly. Because if she didn't, they would catch her and hurt Kip.  
  
Gaby was snapped back to earth when she noticed a girl, no older then 15, looking at her. She was the same girl as before, the one she had seen before she had blacked out.  
  
"Who...Who are you?" the girl asked, gazing up at Gaby. But, unlike the others, it was not in cruelty, or in pity, or in curiosity. She was looking at her with a face that suggested that she wanted to help, but was afraid. For some reason, Gaby trusted her.  
  
"Gaby."  
  
"Gaby... I want... To help you and him out of here." 


	7. Ch7:Escape Again

"You do? What do you want in return?" Gaby asked. Why on Earth did this girl want to help her?  
  
"Nothing. I never wanted to join Team Rocket, but when I was orphaned, I had no choice. I just don't want any more death. All the experiments die. I can't bear to see any more, especially if it's a living person. Most of the time, we get dead or dying ones. That's bad enough, but you and him are alive and healthy for the most part. I can't stand it!"  
  
Gaby looked at her. The poor kid. Surrounded by death everywhere, and no way to stop it.  
  
"How can you get us out of here? No one can know, otherwise we're dead!"  
  
"I know the codes. I can get you out of here. But we'll have to do it at night, when almost everyone is asleep."  
  
"Tonight."  
  
The Rocket girl, who's name Gaby had found out to be Kris, walked quietly over to Kip's cage. She opened the door of the cage, not making a sound. She carried his limp form out, and set him on the ground in front of Gaby's cage. She then de-activated the force field, and then opened the cage. Gaby stepped out, trying not to make a sound, then walked over to Kip. He was alive, but sleeping.  
  
"Kip! Kip!" Gaby said in a whisper, nudging him with her hand. "Wake up, Kip!"  
  
Kip stirred, opened his eyes, and opened his mouth to asked something, but Gaby covered his mouth with her hand.  
  
"Shh! We're escaping. We have to be very quiet. Follow Kris."  
  
"I'm Kris, by the way." The Rocket said, getting up. Kip and Gaby got up after her.  
  
"Gaby, why are you in shadow again?" Kip asked, looking at the dark form that was Gaby.  
  
"There's no time for that now, I'll explain later. We have to move!"  
  
Kris led the was down a series of passageways, turning this way and that, going as quickly and as silently as she could. Kip followed behind her, and Gaby ran behind. Unlike the other two, Gaby was not making any sound at all. Kip almost stopped to wonder about this, but Gaby just pushed him forward.  
  
They finally came to an open passageway, leading out into the open night.  
  
"This is as far as I can take you," Kris said. "Go quickly!"  
  
"Come with us!" Gaby said. "You've saved our lives! Please come!" "I can't. If I was reported missing, then the Rockets would find me. I have a tracker device in my arm, and it can't be removed. I'd lead them right to you!"  
  
Gaby looked at Kris sadly.  
  
"Good-bye then."  
  
"Good-bye."  
  
Kip and Gaby climbed out of the passage, and ran out into the nearby forest. Suddenly, Kip stopped. He walked left, and picked up something. Then he came over to Gaby, carrying something in his arms.  
  
"Here. This is yours."  
  
Kip handed Gaby the thing.  
  
"My bag! Thanks, Kip!"  
  
"Now, will you please explain? And what's with the hiding in shadow?"  
  
"I'll explain, but we have to move farther into the woods first. We're still in range of the Rockets.  
  
And with that, Kip and Gaby started running through the forest, going deeper and deeper, until they were near the heart of the woods.  
  
"OK!" Kip said panting, sitting down to rest on a large rock. "What's the deal?"  
  
"You first. Why did you come after me?"  
  
"I couldn't just leave, you, seeing at it was all my fault. So I found your bag and flew here on you Lugia."  
  
"Silversong let you ride him? Wow..." Gaby said, looking at Kip in awe, though he couldn't see her because she was in shadow. Silversong had NEVER let anyone but her and other Pokémon ride him. Maybe this boy was special.  
  
"Yeah, and we got to the Rocket's place fast. I hid your Pokémon as well as mine in the forest, so the Rockets wouldn't get them. While I was hiding them, a Rocket spotted me and knocked me unconscious. He didn't notice the bags, though. That was the last thing I remember before you woke me up. Now, your turn. Why all the secrecy? What's with the hiding in the shadows?"  
  
"Hang on, I have another question for you first. Then I promise no more until I've said my story."  
  
"Go ahead"  
  
"Well, Right before I sent you away, did you, uh, feel anything?"  
  
"Yeah! Funny you should mention that. When you looked at me, I, I don't know, sensed something. A feeling that told me that the Lugia was you, and that you wanted me to run."  
  
"You did hear me! Well, half of me anyway. Why didn't you run?"  
  
"I wanted to stay and help you."  
  
Gaby looked at him. That settled it. This kid wasn't so bad. He even looked kind of cute...  
  
"Ok, that was two questions. Now it's my turn. Tell me what happened after you sent me away."  
  
So Gaby explained all that had happened from when Kip had been sent flying to when she had found out about her creator. Kip looked angry when he heard that he had been used as a tool to make Gaby cooperate. But when Gaby got the part when they had preformed the test, she stopped. However hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to start up again.  
  
"What?" Kip asked, looking at the still dark form of Gaby. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Oh Kip, Kris didn't arrive soon enough!" Gaby said sadly.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Gaby stepped forward. Kip gasped as he looked at her hair, silvery and misty in the moonlight.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
And Gaby, finally able to continue again, finished off her story. Kip sat staring into space during the story, and when she finished, he stood up.  
  
"Now, you had two questions, now I get my second one. I ask you again:  
  
Can I join you?" 


	8. Ch8:Twins

"Yes."  
  
Kip jumped and smiled. This girl... something about her made him want to stay, no matter what the dangers.  
  
"Great! Now what do we do?"  
  
But Gaby's eyes were directed at the forest. The loud voices of two people were heard. Gaby suddenly reached into her bag, extracting a Pokéball.  
  
"Are you ok?" he asked uncertainly. "What's wrong?  
  
Gaby remained motionless, her eyes fixed on the trees. Then she stepped back and put the hand with the Pokéball in the air in a ready stance. Her feet were apart, with one forward and one back, and her back hand behind her.  
  
"Grab a Pokéball, Kip. Your first training session is about to begin."  
  
Kip reached inside his bag and pulled out a Pokéball. He stood up and went into his battle stance. His feet were together, and one hand was out in front of him, holding the Pokéball. The other was behind him, stretched out and straight.  
  
Then, from out of the trees, two rockets came. Both were male, tall, and identical.  
  
"We've found them!" one of the men, the tall one, cried.  
  
"Yes we have, brother!" the second, the short one, said.  
  
"The Rocket brothers have fond the two escaped ones!" They said in unison.  
  
Gaby and Kip looked at each and smiled.  
  
"You'll never take us alive!" Kip said.  
  
"Oh, but we will! We are the trappers of the Rockets, and we are the experts. You don't have a chance!"  
  
"Oh, but we do!" Gaby said. "How about a battle? If I win, then I send you two flying back to your hideout and you never come looking for us again."  
  
"And if we win?"  
  
"Then you can take me and him to your hideout and take credit for the capture."  
  
The two brothers looked at each other. Their faces cracked into grins, and they turned back.  
  
"Agreed."  
  
"Well then, let's battle!" Gaby said, and with that, four Pokéballs went whizzing through the air. "Let's go, Trouble!"  
  
"Go! Darkfaller!"  
  
"Ursaring!"  
  
"Donphan!"  
  
The four Pokémon filled the clearing. In front of Gaby, a Pidgeot sat, looking at it's partner. In front of Kip sat a Houndoom, also looking at it's partner. In front of the tall Rocket was an Ursaring, and in front of the short Rocket was a Donphan.  
  
"Trouble!" Gaby cried to her Pidgeot. "Wing attack! NOW!"  
  
The Pidgeot flew forward with such speed that the only thing that could be seen was blur of brown. The Ursaring fell down, then got up again, at with might be considered half of its stamina left.  
  
"Ursaring!" The tall man said. "Thunder punch!"  
  
The Ursaring jumped forward and threw out an electric punch. The Ursaring hit the Pidgeot, knocking him down. He fell back, and gave a feeble cry. Gaby returned him.  
  
But the Ursaring was in a blind rage now. It thrashed this way and that, and bashed into Kip. The force of the blow threw him back into a tree. He slumped over, a trickle of blood running down his face from his forehead.  
  
"KIP!" Gaby cried. His Houndoom ran over to help him, but Gaby called him back.  
  
"Darkfaller! We must finish this! I know you don't know me, but you have to have faith! If we don't win, then everything is lost."  
  
The Houndoom jumped back into position. He snarled at the Ursarang.  
  
"Now that's the attitude I want to see! Now, crunch that Ursaring!"  
  
The Houndoom charged forward, and took a direct hit on the large Pokémon. It fell over, and its trainer returned it.  
  
"It's all up to you, brother!" he said, and sat down on the rock that Kip had been on before.  
  
"Donphan! Rollout!"  
  
The Donphan curled up and went rolling at the Houndoom. The Houndoom managed to dodge most of the attack, but got hit in the leg. It whimpered in pain.  
  
"One good attack will take it down. The question is, what do you know?" The Houndoom looked at her, and Gaby understood.  
  
"Darkfaller! SOLAR BEAM!" The Houndoom charged up energy, but the attack wouldn't be ready until the next turn.  
  
"Ha! You've fallen into my trap!" Donphan, attack!"  
  
The Donphan rolled at the Houndoom, but he was ready. He jumped out of the way, and the Donphan hit a tree.  
  
"Darkfaller! SOLAR BEAM NOW!"  
  
The Houndoom, fully charged, let loose a powerful blast at the Donphan. The Donphan collapsed immediately.  
  
"I won!" Gaby said, and a second later, both brothers were gone. However, she forgot about the Donphan, and it got up and charged at the Houndoom. It missed, however, and went straight at Gaby instead.  
  
Gaby, sensing something behind her, jumped up and hovered, making the Donphan go straight past her. She glared at it, then opened her mouth. A bright ball of energy was forming in it. Then, in a split second, she released the ball straight at the Donphan. It was blasted out of the way, and landed, finally KO'd. Gaby looked at it and it disappeared.  
  
Gaby's feet had barely touched the ground before she was running to Kip's side. He was bleeding and unconscious.  
  
Gaby placed her hand on his chest and bent her head to her chest. Concentrating with all her might, her hand started glowing blue. Kip's hair and clothes rippled as if in a strong wind. The light grew, and a second later, filled the surrounding area. When it cleared, Gaby was sprawled on the round and Kip was stirring.  
  
Kip opened his eyes, seeing his Houndoom at his side. He smiled, then looked around for Gaby. Spotting her, he jumped up and ran over. He stopped for a split second, trying to figure out why he wasn't hurt, but then resumed his run towards her.  
  
Once he got there, he was relived to see that she was sleeping, and nothing worse. He sighed in relief, then shook her awake.  
  
"Wha? Oh, hello Kip. See you're recovering well," Gaby said, sitting up. "You were in bad shape before I worked my magic on you."  
  
"Magic?" Kip asked. He assumed that he had blacked out, no worse.  
  
"My powers. Hey, being half Pokémon does have its advantages."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I guess I'd better tell you if we're gonna be stuck together for a while! Well, Pokémorphs have the ability to use their Pokémon's attacks. For example, if someone was a Pikachu Pokémorph, then they would be able to use slam, thundershock, and any other attacks that a Pikachu is able to do. In my case, I get all of Lugia's special abilities, including recover." "So that's what you did to me!" Kip said. "What other things can you do?"  
  
"That would take forever! I'll just tell you that I can to most TM moves and all of Lugia's basic attacks. But for warning, watch my eyes. Deep blue means calm or curious, light blue means sad, red means angry or hateful, black means...well, if you see black, just get out of the way and don't come back."  
  
Kip nodded.  
  
"So...are we going to stay here forever?" Kip asked, looking at Gaby with a questioning face.  
  
"Yes. But first, I must see how you usually battle. Give me all you got!"  
  
And with that, Gaby pulled out six Pokéballs, and Kip stood there petrified with fear.  
  
Face her? Face Gaby? Crazy! Insane!  
  
He pulled out six Pokéballs anyway.  
  
The two went into their battle stances, and the game was on. 


	9. Ch9:Battle for exceptance

"Darfaller!"  
  
"Dragonsong!"  
  
Out of Kip's Pokéball came the Houndoom, and out of Gaby's came a Dragonite.  
  
"Dragonsong!" Gaby shouted. "Dragon Rage!"  
  
The Dragonite went into a fury, bashing the Houndoom out of the way. Surprizingly, it got back up again, though shakily.  
  
"Darkfaller! Crunch that Dragonite!"  
  
The Houndoom leapt forward, clamping its jaws down on the Dragonite's arm. The Dragonite toppled over, but got back up again.  
  
"Continue your attack!" Gaby shouted.  
  
Once again, the Dragonite used its attack, Dragon Rage. Once the Houdoom was hit, it got up again, but one more hit and it would be over.  
  
"Darkfaller, take him down! Hyper Beam!"  
  
The Houndoom charged up its energy. Once ready, it fired it at the Dragonite. The Dragonite was knocked backwards, and Gaby returned it instantly. She knew that her first Pokémon was KO'd.  
  
"Alright! You did it, Darkfaller!" Kip said, running in the field to his Houndoom. "You took down her Pokémon!"  
  
"What makes you think this is over?' Gaby said, taking out another Pokéball.  
  
"You mean we're battling all our Pokémon?" Kip asked alarmed. He couldn't take down all of Gaby's Pokémon. Not a chance.  
  
"Of course! I haven't really accepted you until I see how you battle! But for a little encouragement, you're impressing me. Now, let's get on with it! Go, Trouble!"  
  
Out of Gaby's Pokéball came a Pidgeot. Tall and proud it stood, and ready to battle.  
  
"Trouble! Steal Wing!"  
  
The Pidgeot flew forward with such surprising speed, that when the Pidgeot had returned to its post, the Houndoom named Darkfaller had only just begun to fall. Once he did fall, he did not get up again.  
  
"D-Darkfaller!" Kip cried, running to his Pokémon.  
  
"You're loosing points. Hold in the sentimentality until after the battle."  
  
Kip reluctantly returned to his post, then returned his Pokémon. Pulling out another ball, he glared at Gaby.  
  
"You'll pay for what you did to Darkfaller! Avenge your friend, Nightflyer!"  
  
Out of the Pokéball came a Noctowl, but instead of brown, it was black and red.  
  
"Nice Pokémon!" Gaby said, impressed. "But this isn't a beauty contest. Your move."  
  
"Alright then! Nightflyer, Double Team!"  
  
Gaby almost laughed as the Noctowl split in two. She bent down and whispered something to her Pidgeot, then stood back up again.  
  
"You do have a lot to learn. One of the most important lessons in battling is never use Doubled Team on a Pokémorph! Trouble, attack the left one now with Wing Attack!"  
  
Once again the Pidgeot took off, and once it got back, the right Noctowl had disappeared, and the left one was on the ground, its eyes swirling(Anime style).  
  
"Ahh!" Kip cried. Then, glancing over at Gaby, quickly returned it as if he hadn't said anything. Pulling out a new Pokéball, he cried, "Go! Quickzap!"  
  
A Raichu suddenly appeared on the field. Gaby sighed.  
  
"Quickzap! Thunder!"  
  
From the Raichu came a blast of thunder that shook the area. The Pidgeot collapsed.  
  
"Return!" Gaby said, and the Pidgeot was back in its ball.  
  
"Good! So you know about type weaknesses and resistances. Very good! Now let's see how you do in a multiple choice situation! GO! AFFECTION!"  
  
A Meganium was on the field now, and with a determined look on her face.  
  
"Affection?" Kip asked. "Why is it named Affection?"  
  
"Because I saved her with love." Gaby replied. "But enough chit-chat. Affection, Body Slam!"  
  
The Meganium slammed itself to the ground on top of the Raichu. The Raichu got up again, but once standing, was found to be paralyzed.  
  
"Damn!" Kip said under his breath. "Now what? Do I switch out, or keep on going? Switching out might be better for Quickzap, but strategically it's a bad idea. But how can I not save Quickzap when it's so easy? I have to try! Quickzap, return!"  
  
The Raichu disappeared into its ball. Gaby shook her head.  
  
"Did I do something wrong?" Kip asked, unsure if he had made the right choice.  
  
"We'll talk later. Send out your next Pokémon."  
  
"Alright, um... Come on out, Psylight!"  
  
With that, an Espeon joined the battle. Gaby nodded.  
  
"Very nice! You seem to really love your Pokémon. That's good." Gaby said, surveying the Espeon.  
  
"Thanks! But now, I have to wipe that Meganium off the field! Psylight! Psychic attack!"  
  
A wave of Psychic blasted the Meganium out of the way. It lay there, motionless.  
  
"Affection!" Gaby cried, her voice breaking. "You'll pay for this! Go, Sapphire!"  
  
Out of Gaby's Pokéball came a Charizard. It was the blue one with the silver streaks on the side. Kip stepped back.  
  
"Where'd you get a different coloured one?!" He asked.  
  
"Found her at a breeder's site." Gaby answered. "But she has more then good looks. Sapphire, Fire Blast attack!"  
  
Out of the Charizard's mouth came blue, not red, flame. Kip thought that it must be cold, seeing as it was not fiery and blazing. But when his Pokémon collapsed from the impact, he knew that he had thought wrong.  
  
"WHAT?!? How come it's blue?" Kip asked as he returned his Espeon.  
  
"Breeders mix around genetics, like the Rockets, only they don't harm the Pokémon in any way and they have permits. They have what you call authorised experimentation. But when breeders do something to a parent, it is usually implied to the baby to, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker. In Sapphire's case, stronger."  
  
"Wow." Kip said. "But anyway...Let's go, Aurora!"  
  
A huge form appeared on the field. It was a Lapras, tall and proud, floating above the ground.  
  
"Good! Good!" Gaby said. "More type matching!"  
  
"We'll see how good my judgement is! Hydro Pump!"  
  
The Charizard was doused with water, and it fell, dripping. Before it hit the ground, Gaby returned it, frowning. But then she smiled.  
  
"You took her down. Good for you. But now, it's time you see my real power."  
  
"R-Real power?" Kip asked, afraid. "What was all that, then?"  
  
"A warm up. An appetizer. Let's wipe them out, Slicksilver!"  
  
The Skarmory appeared, and Gaby's face went into a determined smile. She shook some silver hair out of her face, then faced Kip again.  
  
"Now is when I take you down. But don't be discouraged. You have to be pretty good to make it this far. You're the best I've seen. Ever."  
  
Kip couldn't help but smile. This girl, she was nice, great with Pokémon, and...He just couldn't put it in words.  
  
"But we'll talk later. Right now, let's battle! Slicksilver, Steal Wing attack!"  
  
In a matter of seconds, the Lapras was down, then off the field.  
  
"I've only got two left." Kip muttered to himself. "Better save Quickzap. Won't do very well with paralysis. That only leaves..." His voice rose. "Gice it your best! Slasher!"  
  
Out of his Pokéball came a Sandslash. Gaby managed not to laugh. Keep his confidence up, she told herself.  
  
"You do realize," Gaby said, "That my Pokémon gets to go first."  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Because my Pokémon has a high speed, and that means I get to attack first, just like any other time. I've just been letting you go."  
  
"Damn!"  
  
"Anyway...Steal wing! Now!"  
  
The Sandslash took the hit, and got up again, but one more hit and it would be over.  
  
"Yes! Slasher, Slash attack!"  
  
The Skarmory took the hit, weakened, but fighting fit.  
  
"Finish him!"  
  
And that is what the Skarmory did, and soon Kip had only one choice.  
  
"Quickzap! Go! Thunder attack!"  
  
The Skarmory, unfortunately, was hit in a weak spot, and was KO'd instantly.  
  
"Slicksilver! Damn you, Kip! You're so good!"  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"But you know what's left, don't you?" Kip gulped. He did all right. He was dreading this part.  
  
"SILVERSONG! TAKE HIM DOWN!"  
  
As soon as the Lugia emerged, Kip knew what was going to happen. Without a word, Gaby had communicated telepathically to her Lugia.  
  
'Whirlpool!'  
  
A great whirlpool swept up the Raichu. After it disappeared, the Raichu was on the ground, defeated. Whirlpool wasn't a strong attack, but the combination of paralysis, the Body slam, and the Steal Wing was just too much. Kip returned his Pokémon solemnly.  
  
"Why so glum? Is it because you were beaten?"  
  
"Well, it's just that you pummelled my Pokémon. I could tell you were going easy on me. Very easy."  
  
Gaby looked away guiltily.  
  
"Did you want me to wipe out all your Pokémon one shot each with one Pokémon? That was the other alternative."  
  
"No, but now I feel like I just survived because you were going easy."  
  
"Um, Kip? That wasn't easy mode for me. It was normal. And taking down 5 of my Pokémon on normal is like beating the Pokémon League 3 times in a row. That's something to be proud about."  
  
Kip smiled.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really."  
  
"But what about our Pokémon? They're all hurt, and the next Pokémon Center isn't for miles!"  
  
"Kip, you have to learn a few things. I haven't gone to a Pokémon Center for a long time. You see, I'm my own little Pokémon Center."  
  
Gaby pulled out all the Pokéballs, then touched each of them in turn. Every time, a faint blue light would come from her finger tips, then recede, the Pokémon inside healthy again. But every time, Gaby's face got weaker and weaker, until finally, at the last Pokémon, she slumped against a tree, panting.  
  
"Wow! Did you use your own energy to do that?"  
  
"Yes. But now, we have to talk about the battle!"  
  
"Right! You said You'd give me points. How many did I get?" "Out of 100, you got an 92. You need an 90 to pass my class."  
  
"90!!! But that's so high! How many people have passed before me?"  
  
"None."  
  
Kip slumped back, amazed. None? That means...  
  
"That you are the first person ever to pass my test."  
  
"What did I do wrong?"  
  
"Well, you were sentimental, and that shows weakness. I know you love your Pokémon, but when others see you have a weak spot, they go for it immediately."  
  
"Like when I was captured?"  
  
"Exactly. Control means power." Gaby said, her expression turning grave. Kip couldn't be sure, but he thought that he saw a flash of red enter the eyes, but if it had, then lasted for only a split second.  
  
"The only other thing you did wrong was switch out. If you had kept your Raichu out, you might have gotten a hit on Silversong. And sometimes, one hit is all it takes to separate the winners for the losers. Whenever something happens to a Pokémon, keep it out. If you return it, then you're trapped."  
  
Kip nodded. She was so smart, and he had learned so much from her already.  
  
"Thanks." 


	10. Ch10:Gaby's challenge

"Come on, Gaby! Can't we stop and get some sleep? We've been walking for hours!"  
  
Kip's tired voice ran out in the forest. Gaby turned around and looked him in the eye, an annoyed expression on her face.  
  
"Shut up! Do you WANT to get us killed? You forget, I'm on the Rocket's most wanted list. But I guess we should get some sleep."  
  
She stopped, then looked around the surrounding area for a good place to sleep. Man, she thought, If I'm gonna travel with this guy, then he better learn to shut up!  
  
"Well," Gaby said, "It wouldn't be my first choice, but it'll have to do us for tonight. But before we turn in, we need to search the surrounding area."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"Food! You ate half my stock!" Gaby said. Kip smiled sheepishly. He had eaten a lot. "Now, I'll take this way." She pointed to the right. "And you take that way." She pointed to the right. "If you run into any trouble, just call and I'll come. Ok?"  
  
"Ok."  
  
With that, Gaby set off to the right, leaving to go to the left. Kip suddenly had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach, like someone was watching him. He looked around, but Gaby had disappeared. He reached for his Pokéball containing his Houndoom, but suddenly he heard a noise in the surrounding trees.  
  
"Who's there?" he called out, turning this way and that, trying to keep up with the movements in the trees. "Hello?"  
  
Kip was just about to decide that it was just a stray Pokémon, when suddenly he was flat on his back, pinned to the ground by something. Looking up, he realized it was a human, not a stray Pokémon.  
  
"I seek the one they call the Half-Breed, the morph," The figure on top of Kip said. It was a male voice, but it had a hint of excitement in it, but just barely. "Where is it?"  
  
Kip was confused. The Half-Breed? Was he... Could he be looking for Gaby?  
  
'I don't know what you're talking about!" Kip cried, hoping that Gaby would hear him. "Let me go!" He struggled against the strong grip of the person on top of him, but he was too strong.  
  
"Hehe. And why should I believe you? Trying to protect it won't help anyone. Now tell me where it-"  
  
"I can't take my eyes off you for a second! Kip, you have to stop getting into trouble!"  
  
Both boys looked over at a figure in the shadows. It came forward, and Kip recognized it as Gaby. The boy on top of Kip let him go, then stood up, staring in awe at Gaby's figure. Kip got up and ran over beside Gaby.  
  
'I had heard of there being a half human, half Pokémon, but never did I imagine that it would be so beautiful."  
  
"Save your flattery," Gaby said, shaking the hair out of her face. "Who are you and what do you want with me?"  
  
"I wish to have a battle. I wish to see if I truly am the best trainer in the world, and if I faced a true Pokémon itself, then I thought that I would be the best. As for who I am, I do know my true name, but I call myself Seth."  
  
"Seth?" Gaby said, surveying the boy. He was tall, at least 5'7", and looked to be around 16. He had red(not the blond red. I mean RED. This is an Anime/Manga, after all!) hair with Black bangs that went almost down to his chin. He had a grey strip of cloth tied around his head. He wore blue jeans with many holes in them with a black shirt, also with holes. He slim but strong figure. But his eyes were a grey, flaming and energetic.  
  
"Seth. So you want to battle? Two on two or one on one?"  
  
"You're accepting his challenge?!" Kip cried, staring at Gaby like she was crazy. "You don't know anything about him!"  
  
"Yeah, that's true, but I don't know a whole lot about you either, now do I?"  
  
"She's got a point, you know," Seth said. Kip glared at him. Then, turning to Gaby, he said, "One on one."  
  
"Alright then! Go, Slicksilver!"  
  
"Ok! Go, Aggron!" Seth cried, throwing a Pokéball in the air. When the monstrous half steel, half rock Pokémon appeared on the field, Gaby, for the first time, was unfamiliar with the Pokémon. She glanced over at Kip, who was staring opened mouthed at it.  
  
"Kip," Gaby said, glancing over at him, "Do you know what this is?"  
  
"Sure!" Kip said, clad he could be of some help. "An Aggron is a VERY powerful Rock/Steel type, with many powerful attacks. Wait...Aren't Flying- Types weak against rock attacks?"  
  
'Yeah, but so? I can take this guy on anyway. You forget, Rock types have a slow speed! Slicksilver! Steel Wing attack!"  
  
The Skarmory did it's usual attack, and sent the Aggron flying into a tree. It got up again, and stood ready beside its master.  
  
"Very good! But not good enough," Seth said. "Aggron, Iron Tail now!"  
  
The huge figure leaped forward, whipping its tail out at the bird. The Skarmory dodged it, but got a small cut on its leg.  
  
Gaby stood back and smiled. Her eyes suddenly changed from green to a blue, but the edges were tinged with a red-orange glow. Kip looked from Gaby to the Skarmory, and Realized that the Pokémon's eyes matched Gaby's. Kip suddenly realized Gaby was using her Psychic powers to telepathically communicate with the Skarmory.  
  
Suddenly the Skarmory attacked. Without warning, it flew straight up in the air, disappearing above the trees. Gaby's eyes were fixed on the sky.  
  
'Up!' she thought telepathically. 'Left, right...'  
  
'Now'  
  
The Scarmory suddenly burst through the trees, showering everyone with twigs and leaves. The Aggron was flat on its back, a deep cut on its side. It got up again, bleeding. The Skarmory was howering beside Gaby, a triumphant gleam in its eyes.  
  
"You think you've won? No way! I though you did your homework. Aggron, Rock Throw!"  
  
The Aggron suddenly reached down and picked up a large rock, and flung it at the Skarmory. It caught the bird in mid-flap, and sent it flying into a tree. It sat there, bleeding. But, surprisingly, it got up again. But Gaby, realizing he was too hurt to continue, turned to Kip.  
  
"Take care of him. Use a few potions from my bag. Quick!" Kip did what he was told and started at once. Gaby turned back to Seth, her eyes now with a hint of red in them quite apart from the Psychic abilities.  
  
"Impressive. But, trainer-to-trainer, you really should return your Aggron. It's badly hurt from the Aerial Ace my Skarmory dealt to it."  
  
"You're right," Seth said. Then, pulling out a Pokéball, he returned it. Then, grabbing another one, he shouted, "Go! Flygon!"  
  
Gaby's eyes lit up in wonder as she saw the magnificent dragon Pokémon soar out of it's Pokéball and onto its master's shoulder.  
  
"Kip, what's that?!" Gaby said excitedly.  
  
"That's a Flygon, a half ground, Half Dragon Pokémon. It's said that it has awesome powers."  
  
"Fun!" Gaby said, pulling out a Pokéball. "This should be interesting then! Dragonsong! Let's show them what we've got!"  
  
Her Dragonite appeared on the field, and with a glance at his friend, he stood by her side, ready.  
  
"Wow!" Seth said, taking in the immense figure before him. "A Dragonite! Where did you get it?"  
  
"I got the Dratini from a breeder in the Orange Islands. Nice, isn't he?"  
  
"Yes! Very! Is it true that only people true of heart, amazing courage, and strong determination are able to control these Pokémon?"  
  
"Find out for yourself! Dragonsong, Ice beam!"  
  
The Flygon was struck right in its stomach area, and was sent flying backwards. The dual type disadvantage was just too much for the Flygon. It fell over, and Seth had returned it before it hit the ground.  
  
"It's true then. The Morph is almost invincible," Seth said under his breath. Gaby did not hear because she was too busy patting her Dragonite on the head. "But everyone has a weakness, and I must see the last and unknown Pokémon. It has to be something special, and if I can snag it from the Half- Breed, then I might just be able to beat Team Rocket!"  
  
"Alright! Now we get serious! Go, Starmie!"  
  
The Purple star-shaped Pokémon appeared on the field. The Dragonite looked at it, and it seemed to everyone that it smiled. Seth smiled the most. He knew dragon types were weak against ice-type moves, and his Starmie had just those.  
  
"Starmie! Blizzard now!"  
  
Everyone was lost in a storm of ice crystals. Kip cover the now shivering Skarmory in his jacket. A few seconds later, it had cleared, and the Dragonite was on the ground. Gaby quickly returned it and handed the ball to Kip. Shen then pulled out another one.  
  
"Hehe. So, you've taken down my Dragonite AND my Skarmory. Pretty impressive, but now I'm a bit angry. I'm going to finish this quickly and painlessly. Go, Affection!"  
  
The Meganium appeared, a determined look on it's face. The grass around it was already growing tall and green.  
  
"Meganium! Take in sunlight!" Gaby shouted, and The Meganium raised its head to the sky as its petals took in the sun.  
  
"Big mistake! Starmie, Ice beam!" The shot hit the Meganuim directly, but it wouldn't give in. Seth looked at it with horror.  
  
"But...Nothing's ever withstood a critical hit from my Starmie before!" He said.  
  
"You're not looking at an ordinary Pokémon, Seth. This is one saved by love! Affection, Solar beam attack!"  
  
The Meganium opened its mouth and let out a blast of pure light energy. The grass underneath the beam grew tall so fast, you could barely see it growing. All they knew was, when the Solar beam hit the Starmie, it was blasted back, and the grass followed it there. Seth returned the Pokémon, and Grabbed another ball from his belt.  
  
"Let's go! Seviper!"  
  
As the large snake appeared on the field, Gaby one again turned to Kip for an explanation.  
  
"Seviper is a poison Pokémon who has been at war with the Zangoose for as long as anyone can remember. It has a highly toxic bite."  
  
"Bitch. He knows all my weaknesses," Gaby said under breath. Suddenly a thought struck her. What if he knew about Silversong? No, nobody but Kip, herself, and their Pokémon knew. Still...  
  
"I see you know my weaknesses. But I'm still trying. Affection, Body Slam attack!"  
  
The Meganium lunged forward, throwing itself against the Seviper with all its strength. They fell, battling with each other, until the Seviper finally raised its head and struck down with its fangs. The Meganium cried out, and Gaby ran into the field. She grabbed her Meganium, then bolted over to Kip.  
  
"Not another one!" Kip said, but when he saw the worry in Gaby's eyes, he said, "I'll see what I can do. Poisoned?" Gaby nodded. "Ok. Now, beat this guy so we can get out of here!  
  
Seth stood there, lost in thought. This Half-Breed, this Gaby, she loved her Pokémon more then anything in the world, over even her own life!  
  
Gaby now turned back to Seth. Pulling out yet another Pokéball, she glanced at Seth.  
  
"Hmm...Poison.... How about this? Go, Trouble!!"  
  
Her Pidgeot burst soaring onto the field. It attacked the Seviper so quickly, everyone but Gaby wasn't aware it had even attacked before the Seviper fell to the ground. Seth quickly returned it. Then he pulled out another Pokéball. This one was different. It was yellow all over with a patterning of thunder bolts circling it.  
  
"I've only got two Pokémon left," Seth said under his breath, griping the Pokéball tightly. "She's only got two left, too. If I can bring this Pidgeot down one hit, then I have a good chance of Snagging her 6th."  
  
"Ok!" Seth said aloud. "Go, Manectric!"  
  
The large dog-like Pokémon came onto the field. Gaby once again turned to Kip.  
  
"Manectric. It's an Electric type. It discharges electric energy constantly."  
  
"Electric! Can I have some good news?!" Gaby said exasperatedly. "Trouble, Wing Attack!"  
  
The Pideot flew at the dog-like Pokémon, beating it with its wings. The Manectric took the hit, but it was bleeding from one of its paws.  
  
"Manectric!" Seth cried, looking at his Manectric with worry. "You'll pay for this one, Half-Breed! Manectric, Thunder!!"  
  
The Manectric suddenly sent a bolt of thunder from its electric body. The attack hit the Pidgeot directly, but as it was being hit, if flew straight at the Manectric, piercing it with its beak. The Pideot suddenly collapsed, and about a second later, so did the Manectric.  
  
"Manectric!"  
  
"Trouble!"  
  
Both trainers returned their Pokémon instantly. Gaby gave the Pokéball to Kip.  
  
Now Gaby was in trouble. She only had one Pokémon left, and that was her Lugia. She was afraid. This was no ordinary trainer. He wanted something, and she feared it was Silversong that he had his eye on. But if she forfeited, the risks could be even greater. She had to fight.  
  
"Call out your last Pokémon, Seth!" Gaby cried. "Unless you're giving up, of course!"  
  
"Yeah, right!" Seth said, pulling out his last Pokéball. "Here's a little surprise for you! Go, Tropius!"  
  
The huge Pokémon burst out onto the field with a cry. Gaby turned to Kip.  
  
"Flying-grass. That's all I know."  
  
"So, what about you?" Seth said, trying to hide the eagerness in his voice. "What poor Pokémon is gonna go against my Tropius?"  
  
Gaby smiled. He had no idea what he was in for.  
  
"'Poor Pokémon?' The only poor Pokémon on the field is gonna be yours!"  
  
"We'll see about that."  
  
Gaby pulled out her blue ball. Seth looked at it with confusion in his face. A small blue ball? With a little L on top? He had expected something more impressive.  
  
"Gaby!" Kip cried. "Don't do it!"  
  
"I have to, Kip. Go, Silversong!"  
  
A flash of white light filled the area. Everyone but Gaby covered their eyes at the light. When it faded, Seth nearly fainted.  
  
The Lugia landed gracefully onto the field. It bent down, and Gaby jumped on its back. Their eyes matched: A deep sea blue.  
  
"L-Lugia! How-" Seth said. This wasn't supposed to be! This couldn't be right! He couldn't catch this! But... He had to try. He reached into his back and pulled out a black Pokéball.  
  
"I'm sorry, but this Lugia will now belong to me!" Seth said, throwing the Pokéball. Gaby, taken by surprise, didn't react fast enough. In a second, she and her Lugia had disappeared inside the Pokéball.  
  
"Gaby!" Kip cried, jumping up.  
  
But he didn't need to go over to the ball. A second later, the black ball burst apart, pieces flying everywhere.  
  
"WHAT?!?" Seth cried. "Impossible! That was..."  
  
"Yes, a Master Ball," Gaby said, her eyes now a flaming red. "Very clever, to try and catch my Lugia through a battle. But, you see, You weren't expecting me. I was on Silversong to protect him. You see, I don't really like Pokéballs. So I decided to break out. I guess Master Balls aren't the best."  
  
Seth stood there, stunned.  
  
"Now," Gaby continued, "I'll show you a bit of my true power. Silversong, Aeroblast!"  
  
The Lugia opened its mouth, and Seth could see a ball of energy forming in it. All at once, it released it on the Tropius. It was sent flying into a tree. The tree snapped, and the Tropius sat there, unconscious. Seth returned it. Then, from pure shock, he fainted on the spot.  
  
Kip ran over to Gaby, her Pokémon following behind him. Gaby dismounted from the Lugia, and walked over to Seth, looking down at him, she searched for any physical injuries. He had a deep cut on his arm from the Aeroblast. Then, picking him up and laying him on her shoulders, she started walking again.  
  
'Um, Gaby?" Kip asked, looking at the Morph in confusion. "What are you doing?"  
  
"He needs medical attention. I'm so wiped out from escaping that Master Ball, I need food before I can heal him."  
  
Kip nodded. Gaby was something special. Even though he tried to steal her Lugia, she still was going to help him.  
  
Suddenly, mid step, Gaby collapsed. Kip bolted over to her.  
  
"What's wrong?" He asked her, shaking her arm. "Gaby? Can you hear me?"  
  
He looked her over, and to his horror he saw that she was very pale. He put his hand to her forehead, and withdrew his hand quickly. She was burning up. Suddenly he realized the cause.  
  
"Those evil Rockets! They must have done this to her!" He said angrily. Then he was stricken with a new fear. What could he do to stop it? 


	11. Ch11:Catch me if you can!

"Gaby!" Kip cried, shaking her. "Wake up! Wake up!" Still Gaby didn't move. "Wake UP!!!"

Suddenly her eyes flickered open. They were a pale yellow.

"Gaby!" Kip said relived.

"Kip..." Gaby said weakly. "Help..."

"How?" Kip asked, looking at Gaby with fear.

"Silv...Silversong..." she said. "He...He can help... And the rest of... My Pokémon." With that, she fell unconscious again.

"Silversong...Right!" Kip said, running over to the Lugia. It looked at him with its blue eyes.

"Silversong," Kip said, hardly believing that he was speaking to a Lugia again, "Gaby's in trouble. The rockets did something to her. She's running a high temperature, and she's pale, and her eyes are a very light yellow. Can you help?"

The Lugia looked directly into Kip's eyes. Suddenly Kip felt something happening to his body. It was as if he was being filled with new life. All of the other Pokémon surrounded Kip, and the sense of life grew stronger. Suddenly he heard a voice in his head. It was male, and sounded to be around 17 or 18.

"We have bestowed the power of healing upon you for a short while," The voice said. Kip realized it was the Lugia talking. "You must go to Gaby and help her. Touch her on the forehead."

Kip nodded. He went over to Gaby and kneeled down. Giving a final glance at the Lugia, he gently touched her forehead.

Instantly he felt a bit of the new life inside of him leave as it was sent into Gaby. She opened her eyes and smiled.

"Thanks, Kip," she said, getting up. "Now, you've got a bit of recovering energy in you. Use it on Seth."

Kip nodded and bent down again. This time, he touched Seth's cut. He felt that last of the life energy leave him. He watched as the cut healed itself back into skin without even a scar left.

Seth opened his eyes. Seeing Gaby and Kip above him, both wearing accusing faces, he sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said. Gaby smiled.

"It's ok, we just want an explanation," Gaby said, helping him up.

"Alright. I needed your Lugia so I could try to take on my father, Dr. Sakio."

"WHAT?!?!" Gaby yelled, looking at Seth with purple eyes. "Dr. Sakio is your FATHER?!?!"

"Yes..." Seth said, looking at Gaby as though she was mad. "What?"

"Your father is what turned me into this!!!" Gaby exclaimed.

"What?!" Seth said. "I heard rumours, but I never thought they were true. You mean you were my father's first successful transformation?"

"Yeah, that's ri-"Gaby started, but then cut off suddenly. "What do you mean, 'first'? You mean there are more?!"

"Yes, but he doesn't tell anyone about them. I hate his work. Taking innocent people off the streets, then transforming them. It's awful."

"Do you know a girl named Kris?" Gaby asked. Kip laughed.

"Yes, I do, and she has the same opinions about my father. So do a few of the other Scientists there. How do you know who Kris is?"

And so Gaby explained everything that had happened since the three Team members had attacked, up until now. When she was done, Seth frowned.

"So, My father finally managed to catch you," Seth said, "By using your boyfriend here as a bargaining tool."

Kip and Gaby looked at each other, and their eyes lit up with horror.

"He/She is NOT my boy/girlfriend!!!!!!!!!!!!" They said at the same time.

"She's not your girlfriend?" Seth said, confused. "But she's so hot!" Gaby softened her expression a little. She glanced over at Seth. "I mean, you don't have any prejudice against people who are different, do you?"

"Of course not!" Kip said, going very red. "She's just not my type!" He went even redder. Gaby giggled.

"Whatever," Seth said. "I certainly don't!" Gaby smiled. Kip looked angry.

"Hey! Stay away from her!" Kip said.

"Why? You said you didn't like her!" Seth said.

"I don't!'

"Then she's open for hitting on!"

"Leave her alone!"

"Why?"

"Because..."

"Because what?"

By now Gaby was full out laughing. Getting a hold of herself, she turned around and walked over to Slicksilver, muttering under her breath, "Boys. They never learn."

She mounted her Skarmory, and shouted to the boys(Who were still fighting over Gaby),

"HEY!!!"

They both stopped and looked at Gaby. Situated on top of the silver bird Pokémon, she looked even more beautiful to the two boys.

"If you want me, come and catch me!"

Both boys started running towards her.

"She's mine!"

"No way! I was here first!"

"Everyone! Return!" Gaby said, throwing all her Pokéballs in the air except for Slicksilver's. All of them returned.

"Now, Slick, Let's teach this love-crazy boys a lesson! Run!"

The Skarmory seemed to smile. Then it took off running, so that it quickly lost the two boys.

"Man, we'll never catch her!" Kip said, sitting down on a rock.

"On foot, no!" Seth said, pulling out a yellow Pokéball. "Let's go, Manectric!"

The yellow and blue dog Pokémon appeared. Sparks flew from its body.

"You're gonna ride that thing?" Kip asked. "Won't the sparks hurt?"

"I've been riding this guy for a very long time. See ya!"

And Seth sped off after Gaby. Kip, pulling out a Pokéball of own, cried,

"Go! Nightflyer!"

His Noctowl appeared. Kip jumped on it, grabbing onto its neck.

"Come on! Let's catch us a girl! I mean...Stop Seth!"

His Noctowl lifted off the ground. Kip, who had never ridden on any of his Pokémon before, was surprised at how smooth the ride was. And how fast. Even now, he could see Seth riding like the wind on his blue and yellow steed. In moments he was caught up to him.

"I suppose you've never traveled so fast before in your life," Kip said, drawing level with Seth.

"Only once. And I see you've never flow on that Pokémon before, either!" Seth answered. "Now, If you'll excuse me, our warm-up's done and the real chase is on!"

With that, Seth whispered something in his Manectric's ear. It looked ahead determinedly, an bolted forward with such surprising speed, it seemed to Kip as though they had disappeared.

"Well Nightflyer!" Kip said in a mocked outraged voice. "It seems they're trying to beat us to the chase! But we won't let them do that, now won't we?"

The Noctowl turned its head up to Kip's and hooted. Then turning its head back, it soared up through the trees. Kip was taken aback by the freshness of the air and the incredible view. Then, spotting another opening through the trees, he pointed. His Noctowl started a graceful decend. It broke through the trees.

Below him was a wide lake with lush grass and plentiful trees. Spotting Gaby standing by the lake, he landed and jumped off. But just as he did, he was knocked out of the way by a speeding blur. Looking up from his grounded position, he saw Seth dismounting his Manectric and walking over to Gaby. Kip jumped up and bolted over to Gaby at the same time Seth reached her.

"Uh-oh," Gaby said, laughing. "Looks like we've got a tie!"

Seth and Kip looked at each other and fell over(Anime style. All the Pokémon and Gaby have anime sweat drops. Everyone sighs, including the Pokémon.)

"Boys are SO hopeless," Gaby said, walking away. "Get up you two!" Seth and Kip jumped up.

"Well, this seems like a good stopping place," She said, looking around. "Now there's business to be taken care of. Seth, from the way you battled earlier, I'd say you passed my test."

Seth looked confused, but Kip stood gaping.

"Furthermore," Gaby said, ignoring Kip, "If you wish to journey with us, then you can."

Seth's expression brightened instantly. Indeed he looked VERY happy.

"Of course! Who wouldn't want a ho- I mean talented companion?!"

"Then it's settled!" Gaby said. "You're officially part of the team. Now, there are a few things you should know..." Then, to herself, she added, "This lake should be good enough..."

"Alright! Must warn you, do not think I've drowned. This is intentional. Oh, and please, don't take any flash photography or try to catch me. It's very tiresome."

"What do you mean, no-" Seth started to ask, but Gaby turned around and waded into the lake. Only, she didn't get in the water. She was floating on the surface, barely touching it.

She went farther and farther in, until she was in the center. Then she jumped into the air, and dove straight down into the water.

The two boys were left standing there, marvelling at the grace and beauty of the strange half girl, half Pokémon. Suddenly a flash of white light came from deep within the lake. Suddenly the water started swirling. Then, all of a sudden, a huge cyclone stretched up from the lake to the sky, a sleek, spinning shape in the center. Then, the cyclone dispersed, and the figure inside stretched out its wings.

"It's...It's..." Seth said, stepping back in awe.

"It's Gaby," Kip said. Seth stared at him disbelievingly.

The Lugia swerved around, then landed on the edge of the lake. It lowered its head, and motioned for them to get on. Both boys looked at each other, then got on. Seth was in front, hugging the Lugia's neck. Kip hung on to Seth.

With that, the Lugia took off. It soared around the lake, then flew high up into the air. Then it dove.

Down, down, down they dove, the lake becoming ever larger. Both boys looked terrified, but just as they were about to hit the surface of the lake, the back feathers on the Lugia flattened, and a giant energy bubble formed around them. The boys gazed in awe at the underwater life. Pokémon of all shapes and sizes swam around them.

After about a minute, they surfaced again, and they two boys got off on land. Then they Lugia landed, and there was another flash. An instant later, a very wet Gaby stood smiling in front of them.

"Well," She said, "That felt good. Now, you are not to breathe a word of this to anyone. It is VERY tiring, erasing memories, but I will do it if I have to. Now, let's eat! There's tons of fruit around here, so help yourselves!"

Both boys stood staring, mouths open.

"What are you two looking at?" She said. With that, she turned around, her tail swishing behind her.


	12. Ch12:Beat ya to Lilycove!

Gaby was suddenly back in the lab. They were trying to put her in one of the cages. She thrashed, kicked and attacked anything near her. Several scientists fell over, but there were too many of them. Kip and Seth were beside her. They were still fighting too, but

they were becoming tired. Finally they fainted. Only Gaby was left. As a scientist approached her, she kicked even harder. The needle was almost touching the skin...

Gaby woke suddenly. Then she heard it again, and she realized it was Kip's snores. She got up and went over to her Pokémon, who were sitting and eating fruit. They made a spot for her in their circle.

That dream, Gaby thought, That wasn't a memory. I thought it was, but then Kip and Seth showed up. It felt so real...

She was brought back to earth but her Meganium. She was looking at her with a concerned expression. She whimpered, as if asking what was wrong.

"It's nothing...Just a nightmare," Gaby replied. The Meganium laid her head on Gaby's lap. Gaby sat there for some time, petting her Pokémon and staring into space.

Finally the sun rose over the horizon, and Gaby stood up again. She woke up her Pokémon first, then went over to the boys.

"Guys," Gaby said, shaking them. "Wake up!"

"Wha-?" Kip said, sitting up. Then, spotting the trees, he asked, "What's for breakfast?"

Gaby rolled her eyes (anime style=Sweat drop) and walked over to Seth.

"Wake up, Seth," Gaby said. Seth rolled over and opened his eyes.

"Well, that's a nice sight to wake up to in the morning!" He said, smiling. Gaby stood up and walked away, shaking her head.

"They are SO hopeless! Honestly..."

Seth got up and walked over to a tree. Picking off a fruit, he walked back over to his bag and pulled out his Pokéballs. Throwing them all up into the air one by one, he released his Pokémon. Putting all the balls back into the bag, he walked over to his Manectric and gave him the rest of his fruit.

Kip, who had his backpack with him, reached inside and sent out all of his Pokémon. Instantly they ran to the trees and began eating.

"Like master, like Pokémon!" Kip said, grabbing a fruit off a tree. Everyone laughed.

"So, where are we going, anyway?" Seth asked Gaby.

"Uh..." She hadn't thought of that. Usually she just traveled wherever she wanted. She wasn't used to making plans. Quite literally she just followed wherever the wind took her.

"Well?"

"I don't know... I'm not used to travelling with people. I mean, I haven't exactly been very social the past five years."

"Right..." Seth said, remembering. "But then what are we gonna do? I mean, we can't just stay here in this forest for the rest of our lives."

"Hey! I know!" Kip said. "Why don't we go back to Lilycove?"

"Does it look like I can just walk into a city and blend in?"

"Did I mention that it's a waterfront town?"

Gaby's expression brightened. This could work.

"Kip's right!" Seth said. "You could stay in a cove or in the water, and Kip and I can go get supplies and rest our Pokémon."

"But...It's a 3 day walk from here! That'll take forever."

"When will you learn, Kip? It'll take one day. In fact, we'll probably reach there before nightfall."

"Ho-" Kip started, but a sudden realization came over his face. "Yes! So, who's riding who?"

"We should have two on the ground and one in the air. I'm riding on my Manectric, and I vote Gaby for our sky patroller."

"Sure, I can do that. Dragonsong, you feel up to it?" Gaby asked. The Dragonite nodded.

"But who will I ride?"

"Good question. Nightflyer's too tired an inexperienced," Gaby said, arms folded. "Seth, you got anything? Otherwise he'll have to fly with me on Sapphire."

"Let's see..." Seth said. "Well, I've got my Flygon. He may not look like it, but he can run pretty fast for long periods of time."

"Great! Then it's settled. I'll get us out into the open, and we'll go from there. Kip, you take Sapphire. Seth, you take Dragonsong. I'll just fly up with you using my psychic powers."

"Got it!" Both boys answered. Seth got on the Dragonite and Kip got on the Charizard. Neither of them knew what to expect.

"Ready?" Gaby asked, getting into a jumping position.

"Yup!"

"We are go!"

"Then let's FLY!"

Gaby jumped into the air. Immediately she was surrounded by a purple glow, a sign that she was using her psychic powers. She only went up.

Seeing their master in the air, the Pokémon followed. Seemed a bit uncertain at first, but a few seconds later, he felt quite at home. Kip felt likewise.

"Man, this is great!" Seth cried, his bangs blowing every which way.

"You're telling me!" Kip answered.

"Finally agreeing on something?"

Both boys looked up. Gaby was hovering right in front of them, as though she was suspended in mid-air by cables. The boys noticed that the Pokémon they were riding on were also staying in one spot.

Down below them the forest stretched for a while, then it broke into a long grassy plain. A river cut through the grass like a blue piece of yarn on a green yellow and green carpet.

"Hey!" Kip said suddenly. "I know where we are! We're near the northeast coast of Hoenn!(For all those people who were wondering where this story was taking place. If you must know, the Rocket hideout is just north of Route 123. Just to let you know. But remember, it's a secret. Shhh!)"

"Which means...?"

"This means we're closer then I thought! It'll only take a day by walking now!"

"Baka(idiot. This is Japanese Anime after all!)" Gaby said, turning around.

"He still doesn't get it, does he?" Seth said.

"What?" Kip said, confused. "You mean we're riding?!"

"Of course!"

"Oh."

"Once again, Baka!"

With that, Gaby floated off at a great speed to the edge of the forest. Her Pokémon followed. A few minutes later, they reached their destination.

"Now what?" Kip asked, looking at the now hovering Gaby.

"Down we go!" She answered. She sped away towards the ground, her Pokémon following. About thirty seconds later they touched down. Gaby landed lightly on her feet, but the two Pokémon and their riders had a bit of a bump. Kip fell off his steed (Anime style). Gaby shook her head.

"Ok, Seth! Let's see what we've got."

"Alright. Go, Flygon!"

Seth's Pokémon came out on onto the grass. It landed with a soft thump, then looked at Seth expectantly.

"Flygon, I-"Seth started, but Gaby cut him off.

"Seth, you really need to get creative. Give them some nicknames!"

"Uh...Ok," Seth said. In truth he had never given anything a nickname, but if it made her happy then he would. "Umm...How about...Flyer?"

The Flygon chirred happily at the name and nuzzled his master. Seth laughed and patted it.

"I think he likes it!" Gay said.

"I agree!" Seth said. 'So, your name is Flyer. Ok Flyer, I need you to take Kip here on your back and carry him. You need to go quickly because we hope to reach Lilycove city before nightfall. Got it?"

The Flygon nodded and looked over at Kip. It walked over to him and sniffed his hand. Then it let out a high whistle and turned around so that Kip could mount. Kip got on gingerly.

"Right then!" Gaby said, pulling out a Pokéball. "Dragonsong, Return!" The Dragonite went back into its ball.

"Ok, Sapphire!" Gaby said, turning to her Charizard. "We've got little bit of a fly ahead. But make sure we get there before these two clowns do, ok? We don't want a Boy beating us, do we?" The Charizard bared its teeth in a smile and bent down so Gaby could mount. Both boys looked taken aback.

"Manectric, Go!" Seth said, pulling out his yellow Pokéball.

"Nickname!"

"Right...Um, how about Sparks?" Him Manectric panted in as if to say yes.

"Ok Sparks, we're heading to Lilycove. Think you can manage to get there first?" Sparks looked determined.

"Alright then!" Seth said, jumping on. "Three..."

"Two," Kip said.

"ONE!" Gaby finished. "Sapphire, Let's go!"

Instantly the Charizard flew up into the air. Up it went, higher and higher. Both boys could not tell where they were. The blue and silver Charizard along with them mostly blue and white Gaby were almost invisible. Kip snapped out of it first.

"Flyer, Let's move!" He cried. The Flygon started running at such an incredible speed, Kip nearly fell off.

"Ready, Sparks?" Seth asked, patting his Manectric and getting a small electric shock. These didn't bother him any more, even though they would make some people jump 5 feet in the air. "You can still see them above, can't you?" His Manectric nodded. "Then let's show them what we've got!"

Hearing that, the Manectic ran. He ran so fast that most people who would have seen would think it was figment of their imagination, just a sun spot tricking their eyes.

Up above, Gaby was in the lead. She and her Charizard were mind-locked, meaning Gaby saw everything her Pokémon saw through her eyes. They were moving at an incredible rate, speeding over everything. But they always kept the river in sight, for, far below, that was where the two others in her company were moving.

Seth had caught up to Kip in a matter of minutes. He turned his head towards Kip.

"So, how do you like my Flygon?" Seth asked.

"He's awesome!" Kip answered excitedly. "He's very energetic, and he's very friendly."

"I know. What about flying like that before?" Seth said. "Wasn't that just incredible?"

"Amazing. Gaby's Pokémon love her as much as she loves them: A Lot!"

"I know..." Seth said. "I noticed that when we were battling. She'd do anything for her Pokémon, and I bet they'd do anything for her, too!"

"Yeah...I don't think that came from being a Pokémorph, though."

"Oh?"

"Well, I love my Pokémon, especially my starter that I rescued as a pup, Darkfaller. His mother was killed by poachers, and all of his siblings. I found him alone during the night. I took him to the nearest police station, and they told me the story. They also said that I could keep him as long I took care of him."

"Wow. Sparks here was a gift from my father. He was to be used as an experiment, but they found that he was injured. So, without telling me why, they gave him to me to nurse back to health. I had no idea that they wanted to test on him. So I brought his health back. But when they tried to take him, I wouldn't let them. They hurt me, and that's where I got this," Seth lifted up the back of his shirt. Kip saw a long scar from a deep gash.

"Ouch!" Kip said.

"You're telling me. But as soon as they did that, Sparks came to the rescue. He fried them. Didn't you, Sparks?" Sparks nodded and seemed to smile. "When he did that, I grabbed him and we made our escape."

"Wow. I wonder what Gaby's starter is," Kip said, looking up for Gaby, but she was out of sight.

"Hey!" Seth said, pointing ahead. In the distance tall buildings could be seen.

"Lilycove!" Kip said happily. "This is my hometown, you know."

"Really? Cool!" Seth said. "I'll be seeing you! I have to win this race! Let's ride, Sparks!"

The Flygon and the Manectric both boosted forward with speed. They raced toward the city, it growing larger with each passing second. In no time, they reached it. Unfortunatly, someone was already there.

"There you are! I've been waiting for five minutes!" Gaby said. She was leaning up against the wall, a look of sheer boredom on her face. She stood up.

"What are you waiting for?" She asked. "Get in! I'll be in a cove by the beach."

"How will we know where you are?" Kip said. Gaby smiled slyly.

"I'll give you directions when you need them."

"But..."

"Go! I'll be fine!" Gaby said.

"Come on, Kip." Seth said. "She'll be fine."

"You're right. Now, Let's go visit my parents!"

"Uh, F.Y.I, what about me?"

"You can come too! I'll just say you're my friend that I met on my travels!"

"Uh...Ok..." Seth said slowly.

"Don't worry, Seth! My Parents are different from most. They're trainers too."

"Oh!" Seth said, sounding relived. Most people thought he was a bit...Iffy. Most people were uncomfortable around him. But if his parents were trainers, then they would be more accepting once they saw his Pokémon.

"Let's go!" Kip said, and he started running. Seth followed.

Lilycove was a small town, houses scattered everywhere and no true paths. Although there was a small square, other then that it was laid back.

Kip walked up to a medium-sized house. It was blue for the most part, but there were some red accents in some places.

"This is it!" Kip said. He knocked on the door.

The sounds of footsteps were heard, then the door opened. A woman opened it. She had short brown hair with one clip in it. She had a fair face with a tall and slender form. She was in training clothes, and at her feet was a Wynaut.

"Kip!" The woman said happily.

"Hi Mom!" Kip said, then, bending down, he picked up the Wynaut and hugged it.

"I missed you too!" He said, then turned to Seth.

"Seth, this is my Mom. Mom, this is Seth. He's my traveling companion."

"Oh, so you finally found one!" Kip's mom said happily. "Come on in! You're dad's just finishing training up with the twins."

"How are they?" Kip asked, stepping inside the house, Seth followed.

"Much better. They've one a few battles against me!"

"Really?! That IS loads better!" Kip said. He turned to Seth and added, "The twins are a Plusle and Minun. They're brother and sister, and they were having training problems. But it seems now that's about over!"

At that moment a man came out from a door to the right. A Plusle and a Minun followed him. The Plusle and the Minun spotted Kip and ran to him.

"Hey, guys!" He said, bending down. "How ya doing?"

"Hi, Kip!" The man said, walking over to him. He had a built body and was currently in a training suit. "Who's this?"

"Dad, this is Seth. He's my partner."

"Nice to meet you, sir." Seth said, extending a hand. Kip's dad shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Seth. So, you're a trainer, are you?"

"Yes, and I love it!" Seth said happily. These were the first people to accept him as a regular person!

"Why doesn't everyone come downstairs and show off their Pokémon?" Kip's mom said. Everyone agreed. They all went downstairs.

Back at the beach, Gaby was sitting alone in a cove, looking out at the sea. She wanted to swim, but she didn't want to cause a panic. But she really needed some exercise.

She got up and went to the water's edge. No-one was out but a few teenagers far away from her. She decided it was safe enough. She walked out into the water. When she was up to her head, she waited for a wave to take her out. She got her wish. A large wave came and swept her out far into the sea. Her head surfaced.

No-one around...She didn't need to use the flash. It took up energy, and she didn't want to run out of that so far out at sea.

In seconds she had transformed. She swam, free at last. She went out, far out into the ocean. She went to the sea floor and swam around there for a while.

Suddenly she felt something change. The current had shifted ever so slightly, but Gaby was worried. She surfaced again as a Lugia and looked around. What she saw made her dive back down.

A huge wall of water was making its way across the ocean. And Lilycove City was directly in its way.


	13. Ch13:Wave of destruction

Seth, Kip and his parents were all downstairs. They were all going to compare and show off their Pokémon. Kip was first, then his mother, then his father, and finally Seth.

The downstairs turned out to be a giant underground training hall. Seth looked around it in awe.

"Ok," Kip's dad said, "I think everyone's got 6. Go! Blue! Red! Champ! Scruff! Poncho! Rage!"

Out popped (In this order) a Minun, a Plusle, a Hariyama, a Mightyena, a Breloom, and a Gyarados (The Gyarados appeared in a large water tank).

Seth's eyes lit up at the wondrous Pokémon before him.

"Like them? Poncho's the newest member."

"Like them?! They're awesome!" Seth said.

"My turn!" Kip's mom said. "Go! Smiles! Puff! Beauty! Darknight! Thirteen! Curse!"

Out came(once again in order) a Wynaut, an Altaria, a Milotic, a Banette, an Absol, and a Ninetales.

Once again Seth's eyes glazed over with wonder. 'Wow' was all he could say. Kip's mom smiled.

"Kip, your turn! You show us what you've done!"

"Alright! Go, Darkfaller! Nightflyer! Quickzap! Slasher! Psylight! Aurora!"

Kip's Pokémon entered the basement. His parents clapped.

"Very good! And a very nice Noctowl, too!"

"Seth, your turn."

"Ok!" Seth said. "Go! Sparks! Aggron! Flyer! Tropius! Starmie! Seviper!"

Seth's Pokémon came into the basement. Everyone applauded. They Pokémon looked very happy, as did their master.

"Very good!" Kip's dad said.

"Amazing! You'll teach Kip how to be a real trainer!"

"Thank you!" Seth said, scratching the back of his head (anime style).

Suddenly Kip stiffened. He stopped clapping, then fell right over backwards. Kip's mom ran over to him.

"Are you ok?" She asked him.

"Ye-Yeah..." He said, sitting up. But as soon as he said that, he fell over again.

"What's wrong? You feeling ok?" Seth asked, crouching. Suddenly he noticed Kip's eyes. They had a tinge of orange around them. He'd seen this before and knew what it meant.

"Kip!" Seth said. Then, directing to Kip's parents, he said, "Back up. I know what's wrong."

"What?" Kip's mom said.

"I think he's receiving a telepathic message or image. Look at his eyes."

"He's right!" Kip's mom said. "When Smiles a psychic attacks, his eyes go all funny, like Kip's. But who's sending it?"

"I have I good idea who,' Seth said. "Kip! What do you see?"

"The ocean." Kip said shakily. "Wall of water... heading... Heading straight for Lilycove!"

Kip suddenly jumped up. He looked at Seth, and he understood.

"Gaby!" They both cried.

"Seth, you go on ahead start warning people." Seth nodded and ran up the stairs and out the door.

"Mom, Dad, I'll explain how I know this later, but I huge title wave is heading straight for Lilycove. We've only got about forty-five minutes before it hits. We need to alert the city."

"Right!" they both said. They also ran out.

"Ok," Kip said. He had to save Gaby. She was the only one who could stop this. If she got hit by it, then she wouldn't be able to withstand it. He had to find her. But where to start?

And then it hit him. He needed to fly. He needed to find Gaby's Pokémon. If he could find them, he could fly above the sea and spot her. But what if she was under water? Only one of her Pokémon could take on that extreme, and that was Silversong. He couldn't use him.

What to do? Time was running out. He needed to do something fast.

"Darkfaller!" Kip said, running over to his Houndoom. "We need to get to the beach. Fast. I know we've never ridden before, but..."

He was cut off when his Houndoom rammed into him, sending him into the air. He landed on his Houndoom's back.

The Houndoom started running. Of course, Kip thought, Pokémon are more in tune with nature! They could sense the wave coming!

Out the door, onto the street, and to the edge of town they went. They reached the beach in no time.

"Thanks Darkfaller," Kip said, getting off. "Now, sniff out where Gaby's bag is."

The Houndoom nodded, then lifted its head in the air. Then it bolted across the beach and turned into a cave. Kip followed.

Inside the cave was Gaby's bag. He reached into it and pulled out a Pokéball. He had decided he was going to use her Dragonite. It had some resistance to water. But he would take Gaby's Lugia just in case.

"Darkfaller, is this the Dragonite?" Kip asked Darkfaller, holding it up for him to sniff. It barked once.

"I'll take that as a yes then!" He said, throwing the ball. Out came Dragonsong.

"Dragonsong, Gaby's out at sea and a Giant title wave is coming. We have to get her!"

The Dragonite nodded, then bent down so that Kip could mount. Right before he mounted, Kip grabbed the blue Pokéball out of Gaby's bag. Then he jumped on.

"Darkfaller, watch the bag! Now, let's go!"

The Dragonite took off, the Houndoor barking a farewell. Kip just hoped it wouldn't be the last time he heard it.

"Everyone!" Seth cried. The warning bell had been sounded and now the whole city stood in the square.

"It has been recently found that a Giant Title Wave it heading straight for us!"

"How do you know that?" One man asked.

"Uh..." Seth said.

"One of the weather choppers sighted it," Kip's Mom said.

"Yeah!" Seth said, "And we all need to evacuate the city immediately."

"But we can't!" One woman said.

"Why not?"

"Because the exit's flooded over!" the woman said. "I believe you about the wave. Several smaller waves have already come over the sea wall. We've set up barriers to stop it from entering the city."

"Alright..."Seth said. "Take shelter in the highest places."

"The art museum!" One man shouted.

"Oh my god!" One teenager cried. "That girl! Sir, there's someone trapped at sea! I saw her go out on the beach a few hours ago!"

"What?!" Seth said. Gaby was still out there. So that's why Kip went out!

"I'll get her," A girl from the audience said. She stepped out from the crowd.

She was tall and looked to be around 17. She had long orange (This is Anime. I can do whatever I want) hair and yellow (Once again, MY STORY AND IT'S ANIME!!! SUE ME! Well don't really. I have no money) eyes. Her jeans covered her feet.

"I've lived all my life with flying Pokémon," she continued. "I can weather any storm."

Seth was taken aback. A volunteer? For Gaby?

"Uh, I don't think that'll be necessary," Seth said.

"But there's a person out there!" She said angrily. What was this guy's problem?

"We can't let anyone risk their lives. This storm is too unpredictable."

"Yeah? Well, just try to stop me!" She said. With that, she ran off towards the beach. Seth shook his head.

"Girls! Ok, Kip's mom, you lead the people into the museum. Kip's dad, follow behind. I have to stop that girl."

They nodded, and left. Seth called out his Manectric and got on.

"Sparks, to the beach! We have to catch a girl."

The Manectric bolted at once. Sparks flew from the Manectric's body.

In seconds he was at the beach. The girl was hanging on to a Xatu's neck, ready to take off.

"You can't go!" Seth said, dismounting his Pokémon. "It's too dangerous!"

"You can't stop me!" She said, and her Xatu took off.

"No! Wait!" Seth cried. "Stupid girls!"

He sat down on the beach. His only hope was to wait.

"Where is she?" Kip said, straining his sight and looking down into the storm-tossed sea. "How far out did she go?" Gaby's Dragonite was scanning the ocean too.

He could see nothing. The storm was defeating him. The rain was blinding him, and the lightning was getting worse. The wind was blowing them every which way, and the wave was drawing ever nearer. It was still a long way away, but how could he escape it?

Suddenly he saw a shape flying towards him. Its outline could be see, and it looked kind of like a Xatu with something on it's back. Kip suddenly realized that person was a girl.

Wait a second...Why was a girl flying out in this weather.

The figure gradually approached. Its rider spotted Kip and flew over to him.

"Are you out looking for the girl too?" She yelled over the wind.

"Uh, yeah! How did you know?" Kip said.

"The guy at the rally!" the girl answered. Kip realized she was talking about Seth.

"Did he send you?" Kip asked.

"No! He tried to stop me! Said it was too dangerous."

He realized why. It was Gaby they were looking for. If she saw Gaby... But it didn't matter. If they didn't find her soon, then there wouldn't be anything to worry about.

"Alright. Can your Xatu fly low?"

"You mean PsyFly? Sure! She can do anything."

"Good. Then you fly low and I'll keep a sky watch."

The girl nodded and dove down. She flew very low over the water. She could put her hand down and touch it. But she wasn't afraid. She'd been with bird Pokémon all her life, not to mention... (haha, leave you in suspense!)

Kip continued his watch from the higher point. Now the wave was getting closer, no more then ten minutes away. They had to hurry.

"Hey!" the girl cried. "I see something... But it's not human..."

Kip and his steed dove down. Below him was a shape, and a big shape at that. It was spiralling up towards them at an incredible rate.

"What is it?" The girl asked, looking at it.

"Get out of the way!" Kip yelled.

"What?"

"MOVE!"

They both flew to the up and to the right. The Xatu started to chirp wildly.

"What's wrong, PsyFly?" The girl asked her Pokémon.

"Do you believe in the old myths? About the great Beast of the Sea coming to people's aid when the sea threatens our survival?"

"I don't know, I guess."

"Then you better start believing. Brace yourself!"

Just as Kip had predicted, a giant cyclone came up from the sea. Inside was the huge shape they had seen before. The cyclone flew apart, and Gaby as a Lugia was revealed.

"L-Lugia!!!" The girl cried, looking up in wonder. "I never believed it before!"

"Well, you do now!" Kip locked eyes with the Lugia.

'Can I tell her who you are? She's looking for you,' Kip thought in his mind, hoping Gaby would hear.

'Yes. I trust this one,' He heard.

"This is the girl we're looking for!" Kip said. The girl stared at him as though he was crazy.

"I'm looking for a human, not a legendary Pokémon!" She answered.

"No you're not!" Kip said. "That human you're looking for is...not normal."

The girl looked shocked. Could it be... was it possible that there was another like herself?

"Ok," the girl said. "Let's head back to... Oh shit."

Kip turned around. The wall of water was nearly upon them. They only had about thirty seconds left. Then Kip remembered. He pulled out the blue Pokéball.

"Go! Silversong! He cried, holding it out. Then Lugia burst out of it.

"This is too weird," The girl said.

"You're telling me. Gaby! Silversong! We can't make it without help!"

Gaby looked at him. He understood.

"Return your Pokémon and give the ball to me. We're riding back on these guys."

The girl did what she was told. Jumped onto the Lugia facing her (Silversong), and returned her Pokémon. She tossed the ball to Kip. He caught it, jumped on to the second Lugia (Gaby), returned Dragonsong, and put both balls into his bag.

By now the wave was VERY close to them. Already they were getting drenched.

"NOW!"

The two Lugias launched forward. They lost the wave in seconds. After about thirty more, they saw land and began to slow down.

Seth was still sitting on the beach when he spotted two shapes. He jumped up. Yup, it was them. He nearly jumped in the air with relief.

"Yes!" He cried happily.

The two Lugias and their passengers landed. Kip jumped off and the girl followed his example. Seth ran up to them.

"You made it! You stupid girl! But you still made it!"

"Yeah, but that wave is bigger then we thought," Kip said, "And coming a lot faster. Is everyone gone?"

"No."

"What? Why not?"

Because the only entranceway is flooded."

"Damn!" Kip said. Gaby looked like she was thinking the same thing.

"We've sent them all to the top floor of the art museum."

"That's not good enough!" Kip said angrily.

Suddenly Gaby threw Kip up. He landed on her back. Silversong did the same to Seth.

Gaby looked directly into the Girl's eyes. The girl nodded, then ran off.

"Wait!" Kip said. She turned around. Kip threw the Pokéball containing the Xatu to the girl. She caught it, smiled, then turned around and started running again.

Gaby and Silversong both jumped into the air and started flapping. They turned around and started flying towards the wave.

They only had one choice:

Stop it, or have everyone in Lilycove city drown.


	14. Ch14:Cause and effect

Hehe, I'm gonna start doing this. Well, I'm not back yet, but I got my hands on a laptop. Special shout-out to Demonslayer13! You are my only constant reviewer for both stories (Thanks to all you other guys anyway). Please review, I need motivation. Oh, and in case you didn't know already, this story is never-ending! There is no THE END! I'm going to keep writing until everyone stops reviewing (Which is impossible because I MAKE Sango read it :-)! )

Well, that's it. I'll be getting back to my computer the 12th, and I'll be able to correct all mistakes then. Bye!

Oh, And I don't own Pokémon! But I do own the charies in my story, so if you want to borrow something from it, simply put it in the review. It'll say whether it'll be a yes or a no in the next chapter, like I'm doing now. And make sure you include the story's name in the disclaimer! Thanks!

One last thing: When you see these "", it means someone is talking aloud. When you see these '', it means that it's telepathic. Just thought you should know that. There are a lot of those in this chapter. C YA!

Man, I have to stop thinking of things! Other then Sango, if you know who my pen name character is, TELL ME! I'm considering adding that book to the List. It's not on there!

Bye and best of luck to your stories!

Rhia of Druma Wood, Fincayra

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"Kip, how are we gonna stop this thing in, like, 5 minutes?" Seth asked, looking over to his right.

"I have no idea. Let me ask. Hey Gaby. Got any ideas?"

'Only one: Destroying it.'

"She says to destroy it. Ask Silversong."  
  
"You have any ideas?"

'I agree with Gaby. The only way that we might be able to stop is to destroy it. Or...'

"Or what?" Seth asked. Gaby spoke up first.

'If we can re-direct its course...No, that would just make it hit someone else. I guess destroying it is our only option.'

"Right, but how do we do that?" Kip asked.

'Well, all I can think of is using attacks, Gaby said.

'That's right! We don't have to destroy it completely; we just get is small enough so it won't flood the city!' Silversong said.

"Great thinking!" Seth said, "But how do we get it small enough?"

"Haven't you been listening to Gaby?" Kip asked. "Attacks! Silverong and Gaby might be able to stop it using various attacks!"

"Wait a second...I've got it! Kip, send out your Pokémon! Have you got Gaby's?"

"I've got one, yeah. Why?"

'Kip, we can't do all the work you know,' Gaby said.

"Oh. Right. Go, Dragonsong!"

The Dragonite appeared with a whoop. It then hovered beside Kip, awaiting commands.

"Go! Starmie! Sparks!" Seth cried. The Starmie went into the water, while the Manectric stayed on Silversong's back.

"Go! Darkfaller! Aurora!"

The Lapras went into the water, and the Houndoom was on Gaby's back.

"Ok!" Kip cried.

"Ok, Guys!" Seth cried.

"Darkfaller, Hyper Beam that wave (Which was about 50 feet away from them) NOW! Aurora, Ice Beam! Dragonsong, Icy Wind!"

"Sparks, Hyper Beam! Starmie, Blizzard!"

'Silversong and I are using aeroblast. Brace yourselves!'

Kip and Seth both leaned forward and clung onto their steed's neck.

"Three..."

"Two..."

"ONE!!!"

A huge explosion took place. With the combined attacks, a blast of cold and hot blew into everyone's face. Seth clung to Silversong with one are, and with his other he held onto Sparks. Kip did likewise with Darkfaller.

When the light faded, they saw to their relief that the wave had stopped. It was frozen.

"YES!" Seth said triumphantly. But everyone else looked worried. "What's wrong?"

"Look at the center!" Kip said, horrified. Seth looked at it. A faint red glow was coming from the center. To their horror, the red glow was making the ice crack.

"Not good! NOT GOOD!" Kip yelled.

"What's making the ice crack?" Seth asked.

'It's a Pokémon!' Silversong said. 'Something's controlling that wave! But what?'

"He says... Oh shit." Seth said

"What...? Oh shit." Kip said, looking to where Seth was looking. The ice was cracked completely, and the water was coming full out. About three seconds later, everyone was under water.

Kip felt something underneath him move, and suddenly he surfaced. He was sitting on Gaby again. All around him, the others were coming up. Seth was on Silversong, and his Manectric was paddling over to him. Dragonsong was hovering in the air above them (He hadn't been hit by the wave that much. He caught the tip). Aurora and the Starmie were both fine. Suddenly it hit him.

"Darkfaller!" Kip nearly screamed. "Gaby, we need to find him! He's half fire!"

'I can't!' She answered sadly. 'We have to stop the wave. I'm...'

But Kip did not wait to hear the rest. He dove into the water.

'Kip! You Baka!' Gaby said. 'Seth, Kip just decided to take a swim.'

"WHAT?! That baka! I'll kill him if he survives!"

'He went in to look for Darkfaller.'

"That's different then," Seth said. "Alright. Gaby, you take everyone back to shore and try to stop the wave. I can swim. I'll wait for Kip."

'You'll drown!' Gaby said.

"Nope! The wave's past. I can handle the water now. Go!"

Seth dived into the water after Kip. Gaby, with one final glance, turned and led everyone back to shore.

"Where are they?"

The girl from before was pacing back and forth along the roof of the museum. The guys she had helped had been gone a long time now, and she was worried.

Suddenly she saw shapes moving on the horizon. She turned and stared. Yes, there were two big shapes...The Lugias! But...There was nothing on their backs...Were they still out at sea?!

"Go! PsyFly!"

The girl jumped on her Pokémon's back and flew towards the forms. She reached them quickly.

"What happened?!" She asked the leading Lugia.

'Kip jumped in after his Pokémon which he lost when the wave hit, and Seth jumped after him.'

"Bakas!"

'That's what I said.'

"I'm going after them."

'No! The wave's really close. You can see it from here. And there's something else. Something's controlling it!'

The girl gasped. No, it couldn't be. No way. But...there was no other explanation.

"I need you to come with me. I know what's up."

'What?'

"There's..." But she was cut off. She saw a lumpy figure being washed in. then she realized what it was.

"It's them! They made it!" She cried running towards them.

Indeed it was them. Seth got up, carrying a half-drowned Kip who wouldn't let got of his soggy (but alive) Houndoom.

Suddenly there was a flash. Kip opened his eyes to see human-Gaby's hand coming towards his face.

SLAP!

Kip fell over (Anime style). Seth laughed.

"That should teach you not to go drowning yourself!" She shouted. Then her expression softened. "But you did save Darkfaller."

Kip looked up, the red hand print still on his face. (There you go, Sango! That should give you a laugh! But I suppose I'll get a half angry review for hitting him =-) )

"What's she doing here?" Seth asked, referring to the girl.

"I was going to go out and save you, but that's not necessary. Right now we need to worry about that giant title wave that's gonna hit us in like, two minutes."

She was right. In about two minutes, Lilycove was going to be hit.

"What do we do?"

"Tame the savage beast, of course!" the girl said.

"What do you mean?" Seth asked.

"Haven't you guessed? There's a Wailord in that gigantic wave (that should give you an idea how big it is)!"

"What's a Wailord?" Gaby asked, blinking (Anime style).

"A giant whale Pokémon," Kip said. "But why would it want to attack Lilycove?"

"I think it's because a few days ago, we captured a male Wailord. You know, for scientific research. We were going to release it, but we were behind schedule. I think this is its mate!!"

"I think your right."

'But what do we do to stop it?' Silversong asked.

"Set its mate free. Where's is it now?"

"In the basement at Lilycove department store! But we'll never make it!"

"Oh yes you will!" Gaby said. "You guys go free that Wailord. The Pokémon and I will try to hold it up."

"But-"

"GO!"

Everyone started running to the department store, the girl leading the way. Gaby turned back to the Pokémon.

"Ok, guys! This is it! We've got a city to save!"

All the Pokémon responded.

"Use any attacks to try to stop the wave, but don't harm it. You heard her: there's a Wailord in there. Reflect, Psychic, Barrier, whatever! Just stop that wave!!"

All the Pokémon turned to face the wave. It was nearly upon them.

"Ready...NOW!"


	15. Ch15:Saved!

Kip, Seth and the girl ran to the store, pushing everything out of their way. The girl was in the lead, followed by Seth and finally Kip. Seth caught up to the girl.

"What's your name, anyway?" he asked.

"Lily," The girl answered. They were really at the front of the store now. Lily busted the door open.

"Come on!" She said. They boys followed her inside.

Lily bolted down the stairs, followed by Seth and Kip. Downstairs there was a giant tank, and inside it was a Wailord. Suddenly Lily stopped.

"Careful!" She said, reaching over to the table carefully and slowly. "This one knows Water Pulse, and we wouldn't be the first to become confused."

"Right," The boys said. Lily grabbed a Pokéball and threw is at the Wailord. It caught. Lily, holding the Pokéball, ran back up the stairs.

Meanwhile, the wave outside was charging in on the bay. The Pokémon, lead by Gaby, were standing ready.

"Bring it together, guys!" Gaby said. All the Pokémon cried in agreement. "NOW!"

The wave had reached them. All the Pokémon sent up their strongest repelling attacks. Many used reflect, but others used Telekinesis to stop it. The wave was stopped. Gaby smiled.

But a second later the smile vanished. The wave was breaking through. Gaby, thinking fast, teleported all the Pokémon but herself and Silversong away into the museum. She then returned her Pokémon. Then she flew away as fast as she could to avoid the wave.

"Hurry up, guys!"

Gaby stopped in front of the museum. Everyone inside was staring at her. She turned to face them.

"Hold on tight!" She said. Then turning back to the wave, she raised her hand. A huge Psychic barrier was put up. The water bounced off it, but then tried again. Gaby was straining under the force, but she thought of the people inside. The barrier would not break.

Then she saw the department store. She'd forgotten about them! Using the last of her strength, she cleared a path from the entrance to the museum.

Just in time, Kip, Seth, and Lily came out. Lily threw the Pokéball into the water, releasing the Wailord. Gaby could faintly see the two go to each other. Then the Wailord looked at Gaby. Gaby smiled. The Wailords turned around, taking the wave with them. A great cheer came from the people on the museum. Gaby turned around and landed lightly on the rooftop. Then she fainted.

Seth, Lily, and Kip all ran up to the roof to find Gaby. She was laying there, but breathing.

"She's alright," Lily said. "She's just sleeping."

Kip let out a sigh of relief. Seth looked happy. Kip's parent came charging through the crowd.

"You did it! Lilycove is saved!" Kip's mom cried. Kip, Lily and Seth all smiled. Gaby's eyes opened.

"You're awake!" Kip said happily. Gaby sat up and smiled.

"Yes I am. And we saved Lilycove, too. That's great. But now I have to go before everyone here tries to kill me."

"Kill you?" One man from the crowd said. "Why would we want to kill you? You just saved all our lives!!"

"But...?!" Gaby said, confused.

"Oh, are you thinking we hate you because you're a morph?" the man said, laughing. "Why would we? Who cares?"

"Uh...I don't know what to say!" Gaby said. This was really weird.

"Are you all like that?" Lily asked the people.

"Of course! Why would we treat you any different?"

"Thank God! Now I can take these stupid invisibly things off!" Lily said, ripping something from the air on both sides of her and behind her. Appearing suddenly were a pair of bright orange and blue wings and a long orange tail. Lily rolled up her pant legs to reveal large orange feet.

"A Charizard morph!" Seth said. Gaby smiled.

"I thought so," Gaby said. "That's why I trusted you. I could tell."

"Man, those things were really starting to bug me. I had to wear them 24-7. Thank God Lilycove is a decent place!"

"Let's hear it for the Heroes!" someone in the crowd shouted. A cheer rang up from the crowd. The four teenagers beamed.

"There's one thing I don't get," said one woman from the audience. "Where did those Lugia come from?"

"Who, Silversong or Gaby?" Kip asked. "All morphs have the power to transform into their Pokémon, and Gaby has a Lugia herself."

"That's right!" Gaby said proudly.

"You must stay the night!" On man said.

"Why not? We can stay at my house!" Kip said. His parents nodded.

"Alright then!" Gaby said. "I may not look it, but I'm so exhausted, I could fall over any second!"

Lily, Seth, and Kip were all sitting on the basement floor in Kip's house. Gaby was sleeping in Kip's room.

"Wow, Lily, I had no idea you were a morph!" Seth said. "I've got nothing against them, just to let you know. And you are indeed-"

"Stop trying to hit on me, Seth!" Lily said. Seth bent his head down, his face a bright red. Kip laughed. "And admit it Kip, you really like Gaby." Now Kip bent his head down and Seth laughed. Lily sighed. "Boys."

"Hi, guys! What are you talking about?"

They all turned. Gaby came down the stairs looking better then ever. Her clothes had been washed, but Gaby would not let Kip's parents touch the dirty old bandana on her head.

"Uh, nothing!" Kip and Seth said, looking away.

"We were talking about-" Lily started, but Seth tackled her and covered her mouth. Gaby laughed and levitated Seth away from Lily.

"We were talking about who these guys liked," Lily finished. Both boys looked down. Gaby burst out laughing.

"And?"

"And Seth has been trying to hit on me all night, and Kip likes you."

Gaby looked horrified. KIP?!?!?!

"Of course they should realize they'll never get us," Lily said. "We're girls. We really don't like that kind of stuff."

"But-" Seth said. Kip looked like he wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut.

"Well..." Gaby said, still in a state of shock, "Umm...I'll just stay away from Kip then." Lily laughed.

"So, Lily," Seth asked, looking up again. "Are you gonna come with us?"

Lily sighed. But...

"What the heck! Why not?"

"Yay!" Gaby said. Kip looked happy, but Seth looked overjoyed.


	16. Ch16:On the way to nowhere

Seth, Kip, Gaby, and Lily had left Lilycove City and were now in it's eastern waters. Lily was riding on Red, her Charizard, Gaby was riding on Dragonsong, her Dragonite, Kip was on Aurora, his Lapras, and Seth was riding low on Flyer, his Flygon. They were riding casually, Gaby and Lily both staying away from the boys and close to each other for safety. They boys, not wanting to be loners, had moved closer to each other, and each group was now talking with their partner.

"So anyway, how did you become a Pokémorph?" Lily asked Gaby, looking over at her.

"I was taken from my home when I was 11 and woke up 2 weeks later in a glass cage. I don't know what they did to me, but I didn't like it. Somehow, I don't really remember to well, I broke out and landed on a beach. Then I met Silversong, on that very beach. He helped me through that first year, getting used to my powers and stuff, until I met Affection, then Slicksilver, then Sapphire, then Dragonsong, and finally Trouble. I've been on the run for 5 years, and until I went to Lilycove, I hadn't been in a town for that amount of time. No one ever accepted me. What about you?"

"Pretty much the same. 3 years ago, they found me on the streets. I'm an orphan, and I was living in the wild. Well, they found me and experimented on me. I was unconscious most of the time, and I managed to survive, being the 9 successful Morph since you. Anyway, one day one of the scientist tried to take me out by himself, and I broke out. I managed to steal my Pokémon back and get away. I also snagged a couple of these invisibility things that made my wings and tail invisible. But my feet gave me away, which is why I always wear long, baggy jeans. I lived in Lilycove for 2 years, and nobody found out my secret. And now I'm here." There was a pause. Then Lily spoke up again. "How did Kip and Seth find you, anyway?"

"Long story," Gaby said.

"Go ahead!"

"Alright." Gaby explained everything that had happened from when the Team Members attacked her to the present. When she finished. Lily smiled.

"Wow. So you went from alone to company in a week. And the Rocket's got you again? But I guess you couldn't leave him. He showed up at exactly the wrong time. So that explains your hair."

"Yup."

Over by the boys, they were having a conversation of their own.

"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Kip asked, looking over at the girls, who were beside and in front of them.

"No clue. I'm just playing follow the leader," Seth said, also looking over at the girls. He sighed.

"What?" Kip asked.

"Them. They'll never like us. Girls are always like that."

"They are?...Wait, how would you know?"

"Past experience. Oh, come on, you can't tell me you've never had a girlfriend before, Kip!"

"Then I'll just keep my mouth shut!"

"Dear God, what have you been doing with your life?!"

"Staying away from girls, that's what! I don't even like Gaby!"

"Oh really? Then explain why you blush whenever you look her in the eye?" Kip made no answer. "Aha! You do like her!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Shut up, Seth!"

Seth burst out laughing. Kip lifted his leg and kicked Seth off his Flygon with a splash. The girls turned around and saw Kip moving away from Seth on his Lapras and Seth climbing back on his Flygon. They laughed.

"What hyper-violent thing were you guys talking about?" Lily asked, still laughing.

"Girls!" Seth said, also laughing. Kip couldn't help but smile. Lily and Gaby both had sweat drops(Anime style). Gaby listed Seth up with Telekinesis and dunked him back in the water. Then she placed a thoroughly wet Seth back on his Flygon.

"Good one, Gaby!" Lily said, giving her a High-Five across their Pokémon.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are we going?" Kip asked Gaby once they were moving again.

"Uh..." Gaby said. She hadn't thought of that. She usually just flew around. Now she had to find a place to go?

"I don't know. Wherever the wind takes us, I guess," She said.

"You mean you don't have a destination?" Kip asked.

"Give me a break! I'm still getting used to this company thing! You forget, I haven't been on this Giant Island thing too long!"

"Hoenn," Lily said. "This continent is called Hoenn."

"Right, Hoenn then. I don't know my way around it like I know Johto or Kanto!"

"Sorry!" Kip said defensively. "I'm not accusing you of anything. I was just curious, that's all."

"Uh, Gaby?" Seth said.

"What?"

"Where are we gonna sleep? Night's not far away, only about an hour or so. We need to find a place to sleep, or at least a place for our Pokémon to rest."

"Right...Um...How about that island right there," Gaby said, pointing ahead. There was a small island, only half an hour away if they kept at this pace.

"Sounds good to me!" Kip said.

"Me too!" Lily agreed.

"Why not?" Seth said.

Half an hour later, they reached the island. They went ashore. Kip returned his Lapras for the time being, and the rest of them let their Pokémon run around for a while. The island wasn't all that big, after all.

They gathered up a couple sticks and a small log. Lily made a fire with the tip of her tail. She was a Charizard morph, after all. They all sat around it. For the first time, the boys were relatively close to the girls, though Gaby and Kip still stayed away from each other.

They found many berry trees on the island, and Kip finally paid his debt and gathered as many berries as he had eaten when he had first met Gaby. Seth laughed when Gaby explained why Kip had been away from her in the first place.

"Well, I guess we should turn in," Lily said. She lifted into the air and flew over to a nearby tree and settled on one of the branches. Everyone but Gaby looked surprised.

"What?" She asked.

"You can fly?!" Seth asked amazed.

"What did you think these wings were for, decoration?" Lily said. Seth shrugged. Gaby floated over to a different tree and settled in that. Soon quiet breathing filled the area.


	17. Ch17:Weather Disaster

They woke early the next day, but decided to stay a little long on the island. They were on rotation today. They had decided when they fist set out that three of them would be in the air, one flying low, and the fourth in the water. It was Seth's turn in the water. Lily was to be the low flyer, and Kip and Gaby were in the high flying positions. They did this for safety reasons. If one of their Pokémon got too tired, their rider would go onto their partner's Pokémon and recall theirs(This was the only way Gaby would agree to fly relitivly close to Kip.

About midday they left the island. They were quiet today, not talking much. They flew for a couple hours, mostly over open water, but they spotted an Island now and then.

About 3 hours after they had left, the air started to get chillier. This was strange since they were flying south. Gaby and Lily were the first to notice. Gaby went down to Lily's level.

"You feel that?" Gaby asked Lily, looking concerned.

"Yeah...What do you think it is?"

"No idea...But I don't like it."

Seth overheard their conversation and stopped. Kip did also, and Gaby and Lily stopped too.

"Why has it gotten so cold? Aren't we getting near Hoenn's southern tip?" Kip asked.

"I don't know..." Seth said, looking worried.

"Oh, Shit!" Lily said suddenly.

"What?" Everyone asked.

"I've been through these... We've got to find land as soon as possible. There's a storm coming, and by the feel of it, it's a bad one. And I mean REALLY bad. I've only gotten through one of these, and I was nearly killed."

"I'll check it out," Gaby said. She grabbed a Pokéball from her bag and levitated off Trouble(who she had been riding on). She returned him, threw her bag to Kip, then dove into the water.

Gaby dove down(Still in human form) very deep, so she couldn't see the surface. She then transformed, and dove to the floor with amazing speed. She monitored the underwater currents. Her eyes widened. She dove back up, transformed while she was still underwater, then levitated back up.

"Damn! Lily's right, this is going to be one hell of a storm. We have to find shelter, and fast."

She went back up to Kip, grabbed a Pokéball, released it, then jumped back on Trouble.

Everyone sped away forward, scouting from their positions to find land. Half an hour later, they hadn't seen a single island, and it had started pouring. And I mean POURING. The rain was coming down so hard, even Gaby was having trouble flying up high, let alone Kip. His Noctowl was not used to flying with a passenger at all, and the strong winds and limited visibility made everything worse. They were all being battered around like dolls. Except for Lily. Lily had given up riding Kip's Lapras, and was now flying low on Arrow, her Salamence. And Lily was the only one flying regularly, her Pokémon being trained for hard-weather flights.

"We can't weather this much longer!" Lily yelled over the pounding rain. "We need to land!"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, there is no land!!" Gaby said, frustrated.

"I know, it's just that you guys can't weather it. I've done this before. But I don't think Kip and Seth could make it!"

"Hey!"

"Sorry, but it's the truth. I doubt you'd survive a cyclone!"

"CYCLONE?!" Everyone said, looking at her.

"Uh, yeah...Did I forget to mention that?" Lily asked, trying to remember. Everyone else got little Anime Sweat Drops.

"Cyclones. Great. Just what we need!" Gaby said. Then she looked behind her to yell at Lily, but stopped. She looked away into the distance.

"L-Lily...Look behind you...!"

Lily turned around. Gaby and Lily, being Pokémorphs, had superior eyesight. Those two Pokémon both happen to have great sight. And what they saw they didn't like.

A HUGE cyclone was coming towards them at an alarming rate. Gaby and Lily looked at each other. All they could do was run.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we're sorry to interrupt your flight, but FLY AS FAST AS YOU CAN IN THIS GENERAL DIRECTION!!!!" Lily said, streaking forward as fast as possible. Gaby followed with both Kip and Seth at her side. They caught up to Lily quickly. The boys had guess that there was a cyclone coming towards them. And from the looks of it, it was coming fast.

They flew, but the winds made it impossible for them to go fast. The cyclone, however, had no problem cutting through. In a matter of minutes, it was almost upon them.

Kip was lagging behind. Nightflyer was giving out. It had never flow this far so fast with a heavy weight on it's back. Gaby, realizing this, flew back to her partner. He jumped, trying to get to Gaby, but the wind blew him off course, and he missed and fell. Gaby grabbed onto his wrist just in time. She jumped off Trouble, levitating, then returned him, bringing out Dragonsong(Bringing out a Charizard would be a bad idea in such wet weather). She hopped on and swung Kip on behind her. Kip returned his Noctowl.

By now, Lily and Seth, not knowing that Gaby had doubled back, were far ahead of them, and the Cyclone was almost on Kip and Gaby. Dragonsong flew as fast as he could, trying to catch up to Seth and Lily, but the Cyclone acted like a vacuum, drawing them back in.

Now the Cyclone was less then 50 feet away and drawing them in closer. Dragonsong managed to break free of the Cyclone's grasp and fly towards Seth and Lily, who by now had realized Kip and Gaby were missing. They doubled back and caught them.

"You guys ok?" Seth asked. Gaby, Kip and Dragonsong nodded.

"Right. So-" Lily started, but she was cut off by the Cyclone. It was now drawing them all in.

"FLY!" Lily cried. Everyone tried to fly out of the Cyclone's grip, but they just went closer and closer. Soon it was right on top of them. Kip was now clinging onto Gaby, and Seth and Lily were staying close to each other to make sure they didn't fly off their steeds.

But the Cyclone was winning. It drew them in, until they were 15 feet away. Suddenly Seth flew off his Flygon. Having enough sense, he grabbed a Pokéball and returned his Pokémon before he disappeared into the Cyclone.

"SETH!" Lily cried. But then the winds pulled her off her Pokémon. But Lily opened her wings and rode the winds, and managed to stay straight and return her Pokémon. Then the winds took her too, dragging her out of sight.

Now Gaby and Kip were left. They knew they wouldn't make it for long. Kip was now full-on clinging to Gaby. Gaby looked surprised at Kip, but then looked determined. There was no way she was going to lose him.

But the winds wanted to change that. It sucked Kip off of Gaby and tried to take him away, but Gaby grabbed his hand and held on tight.

But Gaby herself was pulled off Dragonsong. Dragonsong, being smart enough to realize that Gaby couldn't return him, touched his Pokéball and returned inside.

"Gaby..." Kip said, looking at her. She was struggling to stay in one spot(using her Psychic powers) and hold onto Kip at the same time. "Don't let go..."

"Don't worry, I have no intention of doing that!" Gaby said. With that she smiled.

Now the wind was pulling at her fiercely. She struggled, her silvery hair blowing all directions, but the wind won. Gaby, still holding on to Kip, was sucked into the Cyclone.

_I won't let go..._

Kip opened his eyes. He was on...Someone?

"So you're awake?" a familiar voice said. _Gaby?_ Kip thought. Gaby's head turned around to the side to see him.

"Gaby...Why am I on you?" Kip said, still delirious.

"Would you rather be floating in the water?" Gaby said. Kip looked down. Gaby was standing on the water. In fact, she was in the middle of nowhere.

"No-thanks."

"Alright, then," Gaby said. "Do you have any idea where we are? I think we're about 75 miles southwest of where we were when the Cyclone picked us up. Near anything?"

Kip sat for a moment, trying to remember. Finally his brain woke up and remembered.

"Yup, we're probably about 10 miles east of Pacificlog...Yeah, see?" Kip said, pointing to a small mound in the distance.

"Right. Hold on!" Gaby said. She leapt into the air, then flew along, high in the clouds.

Seth sat up, rubbing his head. He was on land, that he knew, but where he didn't know, or care at the moment. He looked around. Lily was lying unconscious a few feet away. Seth rushed over to her, and tried to shake her awake. She opened her eyes. Unfortunately, Seth was right over top of her, and to Lily, it didn't look right.

"I was trying to HELP YOU!" Seth said, rubbing his face, which now had a red handprint on it.

"Sure!" Lily said, not believing him at all. Then she looked around. "Where the hell are we, anyway?"

"I have no clue."

"I'll check it out," Lily said. She opened her wings to try to fly, but when she did, she fell down again, wincing.

"What's wrong?" Seth said.

"Dammit!" Lily said. She unfolded her left wing. It had a long, deep gash in it, and it looked infected. Seth went over and looked at it.

"This could be a problem..." Seth said, looking it over carefully.

"No, you think?!" Lily said angrily. The pain was almost unbearable. Seth looked around. He spotted some trees with long leaves and went over. He jumped up and grabbed one, then went back to Lily. Slowly and carefully, he bandaged it up, Lily wincing all the way. When he was done, Lily looked at him.

"Uh...Thanks," She said. Seth nodded.

"We still don't know where we are," Lily said.

"No problem!" Seth said, reaching for his Pokémon. Lily looked for hers, just to make sure they were there. They were. Seth had his, too. He grabbed one, threw it up in the air, and climbed on his Tropius. He flew up, looked around, then came back down.

"I think we're just south of Pacificlog town. This must be one of the islands close to it."

"You go on ahead," Lily said, trying to stand up. She fell, but Seth caught her.

"I'm not going anywhere until you're healed," Seth said sternly.

"Fine!" Lily said, sitting down. She didn't show it, but she was glad he wasn't leaving.

Seth smiled too. He didn't show it, but he was glad he wasn't leaving either.


	18. Ch18:Reunion, and happy birthday, Kip!

Gaby was still flying high above the clouds, trying to find land. Kip had fallen asleep holding onto her, and she was getting tired herself.

"Hey, Kip!" She said, waking him up. "It seems we're a bit farther out then you thought. I've been flying for a day, and I haven't seen anything!"

"Wha-?" Kip said. "How's that possible? That mound we sawâ?"

"Yeah, well, as soon as I got relatively near, this fog came up out of nowhere and it disappeared. We're still in this stupid fog, too!"

Gaby flew down, and Kip thought they were still in a cloud. But he realized it was fog.

"Great." Gaby said. "I need a place to land. I'm am so tired. I could probably fall asleep right now and send us both into the ocean."

Gaby levitated a Pokéball from her bag(Which she had tied to her foot so that her back would be free for Kip) and opened it, releasing her Charizard. Gaby got on, and let go of Kip. Kip once again hugged the back of Gaby, making her very uncomfortable.

"UhâKipâ!" Gaby said. "Would you mindâ?"

Kip immediately realized what he was doing and let go of Gaby.

"SorryâI'm just not used to flying"

"Right," Gaby said. Her Charizard zoomed forward, making much better time then the very sleepy Gaby. In fact, Gaby was already asleep on her Charizard's neck.

- - - -

Back on the island, Lily was getting slowly better(Bet you were expecting 'slowly worse', with my style of writing! I decided to make something good happen, for a change). Seth had managed to make a brace for the wing, despite Lily's protests. They had been on the island for a day.

"At this rate we'll be off this island in no time!" Seth said, trying to keep the spirits high. Lily smiled.

"You do realize you're going alone," She said, looking at the ground.

"What do you mean?"

"The people in Lilycove might have been nice, but I don't think we'll get so lucky here. I'll just stay here."

"I guess you're right," Seth said. He was sitting away from Lily, leaning up against a tree. She didn't like it if he got too close.

"I wonder how Gaby and Kip are doing" Lily said. "I feel sorry for Gaby. At least I'm not mortally terrified of you."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right!" Seth said, laughing.

They were silent for a while. It was getting on in the afternoon. Seth went to check on Lily's wing. When he took the bandage off, she winced.

"How can you stand it?" Seth asked.

"This? This is nothing compared to other thing's I've endured."

"Other things? Like what?"

"Oh, you know, Team Rocket's experiments, beatings, the whole lot."

"Beatings?"

"Did you really think people accepted me in society? I went to a town right after my escape, and when they found out, it was hell. I managed to get away and get to Lilycove."

"WowâI never thought of how bad people could be" Seth said.

"Hey, wait a second" Lily said, looking Seth over. "I recognise you! You're that guy who actually talked to us! I remember! How did you end up outside bars with no marks?" Seth remained silent.

"Seth, tell me!" Lily said. Seth looked at the ground.

"I'm Dr. Sakio's son, dammit!" Seth said angrily.

"What?! How on Earth can you be that bastard's son?! No-one this nice can come from the likes of him!" Seth looked up at Lily.

"I hate my father. I hate that place. I ran away. I couldn't stand itâHe's evil. He wants to control everything."

"SethâIt's not your fault. You can't chose your heritage," Lily said.

"I know. It's justâI wished I could gotten out of that place sooner."

- - - - -

Gaby woke up. She was still on her Charizard, but Kip was gone. She looked down. Below her was Pacificlog.

"Good job, Sapphire!" Gaby said, patting her Charizard. "Can you see any land?"

Her Charizard nodded and flew towards the southern island.

When she got there, she found Lily and Seth. She jumped off and ran over to them. They stood up.

"Gaby!" They said happily. "You made it! Where's Kip?"

"He found Pacificlog. It's only a few minutes awayâWell, on Sapphire here, that is!"

"Great! Now I can leave!" Seth said. "Gaby, stay here and help Lily while I go to Pacificlog."

"Why? What's wrong?" Gaby asked. Lily undid the bandage and showed her the cut.

"OuchâHere, let me fix it!" Gaby said. She put her hand on the cut. Lily wanted to cry out but stood still. Gaby closed her eyes in concentration. Her hand glowed blue, and before their eyes Lily's cut healed. Gaby's hand stopped glowing, and she fell back, panting.

"T-There" She said. "All fixed. Now I'll wait here with you while you find Kip. And bring some food back with you!"

Seth nodded. He jumped on the Charizard, and was about to take off, when Gaby called,

"You can't be that stupid! Take her ball, unless you intend to tie her up when you get there!"

Seth laughed. Gaby threw him the Pokéball, and he caught it. Then he flew away.

Seth arrived at Pacificlog to find Kip standing outside, waiting for him. He landed, returned the Charizard, and was just about to ask Kip how he knew he was coming when Kip stopped him.

"Gaby sent me a telepathic message telling me you were coming," Kip said before Seth could open him mouth.

"Man, you are getting good at this Telepathy stuff," Seth said. Kip smiled.

"Glad you've noticed. Anyway, I found out some useful information. Apparently it's late August. The Cyclone we were in was a huge one, one of the largest on record." He paused. "You were with Lily, right? Everyone's accounted for?"

"Yup, though Lily came off the worst with a big gash in her wing, but Gaby's taken care of it. Where'd you guys land?"

"We wouldn't have landed at all if Gaby hadn't been able to remain conscious. We landed smack in open water, and Gaby levitated andâyeah"

"I seeâWell, we might as well go get some supplies. I think the girls are getting hungry." Seth paused, clutching his stomach. "Not to mention me!"

"Alright then, there's a Pokémart not too far from here, only about a minute away. Come on, we'll get some food for you and the girls." Kip suddenly stopped, noticing something through a window in one of the houses.

"What is it?" Seth asked.

"HeheâIt's my birthday. I completely forgot. I just looked over there and spotted the calendar. I'm 16 today."

"Really? We better hurry back to the girls, then. We have to throw you a party!"

"You don't have to"

"Of course we do! Now come on!" Seth said, grabbing Kip by the collar and dragging him to the Mart.

--------

Back on the island, the girls were talking casually when the boys reappeared, both on Sapphire. They both had a new backpack each, as well as two for others. They jumped off the Pokémon and Seth tossed the Pokéball back to Gaby, who caught it and put it in her old bag.

"What's all this?" Lily asked, looking at the four over-stuffed bags.

"It's Kip's birthday. He's 16," Seth said, making Kip look down with his face pink at all the attention.

"Really? Cool!" Lily said, accepting the new backpack from Seth. When Seth tried to give Gaby hers, she shook her head.

"Sorry, but I'm faithful to this old thing. I've had it 8 years and I don't plan to get rid of it anytime soon."

"Suit yourself!" Seth said, setting the backpack on the ground.

"Anyway, we need to throw a party for Kip," Lily said, smiling over at the still pink Kip.

"You shouldn't"

"Yes we should! Don't try to worm your way out of it!" Lily said forcefully. "This is YOUR birthday and your turning the same age as most of the rest of us. Well, at least your turning the same age as Seth, since we don't know how old Gaby is and I'm 17"

"Ok" Kip said slowly, trying to take in the rush that Lily had just said.

"Let's get started!" Lily said, and with that she started making the small island into a party.

3 hours later, Lily had finally finished and it was getting late. The shore had been turned into a sparkling area with a bonfire in the center, lighting everything up. It looked beautiful.

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you'd done this before," Gaby said, looking around the place.

"That would be because I have. I had to through a couple parties on Lilycove, and I can make even the worst place look half decent. But this was pretty easy to work with. And Gaby's managed to do something as well" Gaby smiled guiltily.

"YeahâKip I know how much you love berries, and because this island is so full of them" Gaby walked over to a bush and pulled out a small cake made almost entirely of berries.

"YAY!!!" Kip cheered as he saw the cake. Gaby smiled.

"Everyone take a piece quick before Kip gets to it!" Gaby said, handing out pieces to everyone. It tasted wonderful.

"GabyâThis is really good," Seth said, taking a bite and then hurriedly taking another. "I thought you said you'd been on the run! How did you learn to make this?"

"WellâIt's one of the only things I can make, to tell you the truth. Honestly, I don't even remember how to use a stove. And besides, cooking's not really my thingâ I can just make stuff with berries. I don't think Kip will complain about that, though!" Gaby said, laughing as Kip started his third piece(everyone else was on their first).

"Ok! Presents!" Lily said when everyone was done(Which took a long time because Kip needed to finish the cake before he would be happy). "Here!" She handed Kip a small yellow pouch. He opened it, revealing its contents to be small glowing stones.

"They're stones from different volcanoes I've been to," Lily said.

"Cool!" Kip said, taking them out. They were slightly warm, and were many different colours: Blue, yellow, green, purple, black, orange, white, red, and pink. He put them back in their bag and putting them in his backpack.

"Me next!" Seth said. He handed Kip some strange device. "It's a locator, kinda like a Pokénav, only much smaller and much more precise. Check it out!" Kip hit a button on the little thing and it showed a picture of the globe. Then it zoomed in on the little island he was on, and finally the exact spot he was sitting in. It also showed Seth, Gaby, Lily, and their Pokémon.

"This'll come in handy!" Kip said, also putting it away.

"Gaby! Your turn!"

"Uh" Gaby said. Should she? She'd been saving it for later, but maybe now was the right time.

"KipâI'm not sure if you can handle thisâI don't know if you're ready for this reasonability"

"What is it, Gaby?" Kip asked, concerned.

"I guess you areâI mean, you're 16 now, right?" Gaby was still hesitating. What if _she _rejected him?

"Gaby, tell me!"

"Kip, I'm not sure"

"Come on! I can handle it!"

"Once you go in, there's no getting out!"

"TELL ME!!"

"Alright!" Gaby shouted. She reached into her bag and pulled out a large, blue and white speckled egg. She shoved it into Kip's hands.

"There! Happy now?!" Gaby said.

"GabyâIs that-?" Lily asked, her eyes wide at the sight of the egg. Seth's had the same expression.

"Yes it is. Kip, I'm so happy. She's accepted you!" Gaby said. The egg had started to glow blue in Kip's hands and a large crack was opening in it. A brilliant white light was escaping through the crack, and more cracks were appearing on the surface. All at once, the egg exploded and light flooded the area.

When it cleared, Kip was no longer holding and egg. He was holding

"Kip, I'm pleased to say you've been accepted, and that fact that you're the new master of your very own baby Lugia!"


	19. Ch19:Many Confessions

Author's note: Just to let you know, when something is in _''_, Silversong's talking(ex. _'Example'_) and when something's in _""_, it's the little Lugia(ex. _"Example"_). Just to let you know ;)

----------

Everyone was speechless, staring at the little creature in Kip's hands. The Lugia was staring at Kip, looking hungry. It then let out a creel of hunger.

"Well, feed her!" Gaby said, throwing him a bag of berries. Kip opened the bag and put some berries on his hand, which the Lugia ate immediately.

"G-Gaby...Where did you get her?" Lily asked, astonished,

"Hmm?" Gaby said, taking her eyes off the little creature and instead looking over at Lily.

"Where did you get her?" Lily repeating her question. Now everyone was looking at Gaby, including the little Lugia, who had completely emptied the bag and was now satisfied.

"_Yeah, how DID you get me?"_

Everyone stared at the Lugia. It looked around at all of them.

"Did it just..." Seth said.

"_Did I just what? Talk?"_ The Lugia said. Everyone but Gaby was even more shocked.

"I suppose I should explain..." Gaby said.

"Yeah, you should!!!!" Kip said.

"You see...Well it's a bit of a long story. Alright!!" She said defensively as everyone crowded around her. "Alright! Give me a break!!!"

"It all started 5 years ago, on that little beach I wound up on after my escape from Team Rocket. I sat there for a long time...Here, wait a second, I'm going to need help explaining this...Go, Silversong!" Gaby said, throwing a Pokéball up in the air. The Lugia came out. As soon as the little Lugia spotted it, it let out a happy cry and flew over to it. Silversong looked over and caught the speeding Pokémon. Then the little Lugia jumped onto Silversong's shoulder. It was a funny sight, seeing two Lugias, on the other's shoulder.

"Silversong...Give me a hand here!!" Gaby said. Silversong nodded.

'_Yes, I found Gaby on that beach. I had sensed a great power that was very unfamiliar, yet familiar also. You see, I was sensing Gaby's human side, then her Lugia's. I decided maybe she could help me.'_

"Help you how, Silversong?" Lily asked.

'_My...That is to say, our...Parents had been killed, and all but on egg destroyed. Team Rocket is to blame for that. I knew that without my parents, the egg would not hatch unless it was helped by a human. But I didn't trust humans. So when I sensed Gaby, I thought we could give it a try...'_

"Silversong, who is this 'we'?" Kip asked.

'_I should explain that. This is my sister, who until recently, was just an egg. But thanks to Gaby's and your care, she's free.'_

"Me? Why me?" Kip said, astounded.

"_Because I wouldn't hatch for any but someone my brother really trusted!" _The little Lugia piped up. _"And that couldn't be Gaby."_

"Why not?" Kip asked.

"_Because she couldn't have TWO of us! We're too much to handle. And besides, I'd only hatch for a _True _human."_

"Oh..." Kip said. "But why ME? Why not Seth, or anyone else?" The Lugia tried to answer, but Gaby shot her a sharp look. The Lugia stopped.

"What?" Kip said.

"Yeah, what Gaby? Why not me or anyone else?" Seth said.

"Because..." Gaby said. Both Lugias looked like they wanted to tell, but Gaby glared at them again and they remained silent, but both had unmistakable smiles on their faces.

"Gaby..." Lily said. "You can't fool me. I've got Pokémon instincts." Gaby looked very afraid.

"WHAT?!?!?!" Both boys said(Everyone got anime sweatdrops).

"Isn't it obvious?!" Lily said. The Lugia's agreed. Gaby looked at the ground, her face going very, very pink.

"Uh, I'm not following you," Seth said, scratching his head in confusion while Kip cocked his head, trying to figure it out as well.

"Let's get back to the story!!!!" Gaby said. The boys nodded, forgetting their whole conversation for the moment. Lily sighed.

'_Right. I found Gaby on that beach, and once I saw her, I knew Team Rocket was behind it. I managed to help her out, then explained my problem. Sadly, Gaby couldn't make her hatch, but she promised that she'd find someone that could. And now she has, and I have a little sister!' _Silversong finished happily, nuzzling the little Lugia.

"But..." Kip said.

"What?"

"Where have you been keeping it all this time?"

"Hmm?"

"The egg. Where has it been?"

"In my bag. Where else?"

"That's impossible. When you were kidnapped, you left your bag behind, and I went through it..."

"YOU WENT THROUGH MY STUFF?!?!?!?!?!"

"Hey, it was to find out if there were any clues to where you went!!!"

"Sure...!!!"

"Anyway, there was no sign of an egg at all!"

"Duh!!! Do you think I'd leave a random egg lying around there with no protection?! It was in a Pokéball! You can do that, you know!"

"Oh. Then why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because...Kip, for the longest time, I wasn't sure about you. There were the first circumstance..." Gaby trailed off, receiving a curious glance from Kip. "And I wasn't sure if you'd be accepted."

"_Of course he would be!" _The little Lugia said. Gaby froze. _"After how much you trusted him? After how much you cared for him? You think I'd reject a person you loved?"_

There was a silence. Gaby had turned beet-red and was staring at the ground, Kip was staring at her, dumb-struck, Seth was very shocked, and Lily and Silversong had blank expressions.

"G-Gaby...?" Kip said. Gaby turned even redder, if that was possible. "Is...This..." Gaby made no answer. Instead, there was a flash and Gaby had turned into her Lugia form. She took off and dived into the water.

"_What did I say?"_

'_Sis, they didn't know yet!!!!'_

"_Oh...Why didn't you tell me?!"_

"Uh...Someone should go talk to her..." Lily said, looking over at the water.

"How are we supposed to do that?!" Seth said. Kip was still in severe shock.

'_I can take one of you down...' _ Silversong said.

"I'll go," Lily said. Silversong nodded. As Lily climbed on, the little Lugia took off and landed on Kip. Silversong took off and followed Gaby, careful to put up a shield so as not to get Lily's tail wet.

Down they dove, until they saw a Lugia swimming around. It turned around. It's eyes were grey, a new colour for both of them(Embarrassment. If you would like a list of eye coloursemotions, I'll be more then happy to e-mail the list to you!). Lily told Silversong to tell Gaby something.

'_Gaby, Lily wants you to know that it's ok, and she's all for you staying down here for a while. She say's she's wait here with you.'_

Gaby blinked at Lily. She sent a telepathic message to Silversong, and he translated.

'_Gaby says that she's just so embarrassed, and she's grateful you'll stay down here. She also says that she wasn't and still isn't sure.' _Lily replied.

'_Lily says she knows how you feel. She's not sure about Seth either.' _Gaby smiled, and her eyes changed to their regular deep-blue colour and she did a whoop in the water.

'_Gaby says that she wants to stay down here a while longer. Would you like to be on her back?' _Lily nodded. Suddenly her body glowed blue, and a second later she was on Gaby and Silversong was floating back to the surface.

They stayed down there for about an hour, Lily talking casually with Gaby about random things. They were in the middle of doing some fast swimming when Gaby suddenly stopped.

"Gaby...?" Lily said, but then she felt it too.

Gaby started swimming up until she broke the surface. And what they saw they did not like.


	20. Ch20:A hateful meeting

The island was swarming with Team members. Traps had been set everywhere. And Kip and Seth were laying on the ground, unconscious. Both had numerous cuts and were tied up.

Gaby and Lily flew over to them, Gaby flashing and landing on the ground beside Lily in the middle of all the rockets. Gaby's eyes had turned a violent red and Lily looked no happier.

"What's this about?" Gaby shouted at the rockets. "Why do you keep persisting me?! When will you learn your lesson?!"

"Never, I suppose," Came a voice out of the crowd. Gaby recognised it. The executive came forward, kicking Seth out of the way as he came.

"You again. You especially I would have thought to have learned your lesson!!!" Gaby yelled, trying to contain her anger. She calmed down. Lily realised this must have been the one who captured her.

"Yes, I learned that bargaining with you works very-" He started, but stopped abruptly as he saw Lily. "And who is this?"

"Name's Lily, you bastard!" Lily said calmly. Gaby was surprised at Lily's voice. Now the time living on the streets was showing in her. She had a tough look, and she was very confident and cocky.

"Lily? You mean _you're _Lily? My, I never thought we'd get two experiments caught at the same time! How fortunate. Now if you'd kindly..." The executive never got to finish because Lily walked up to him and punched him in the stomach, making him fold over. Then she took her tail and whacked him on the back, making him fall over. The rest of the Team members backed away.

"Wow, Lily. Where'd you learn to do that?" Gaby asked, smiling. Lily smiled back.

"Learned it off the streets. I knew this would come in handy later!"

"You little kids!" One of the Aquas yelled. "Get them!"

Ten or so Team members charged in from different directions. Before Lily could even do anything, Gaby had raised her hand and thrown them all back effortlessly.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" Lily said, also surprised at her friend's new fighting side.

"You'd better believe it!" Gaby said, throwing a Magma up in the air and tossing him into an Aqua.

"Tranquilize them!" The Aqua shouted. Tons of little darts flew at them, but Gaby yawned and stretched out her hand, making them all fall to the ground.

"Rrrrrrr..." The Aqua said angrily. "Alright. We have to use the expensive ones. NOW!!"

Before either girls could do anything, they were covered by two nets. Gaby almost laughed at the futile attempt to catch her, but the Aqua soon stopped her laughing. He pressed a button on his control and Gaby and Lily were immutably shocked with an extremely powerful electric blast(And, both of them being half-flying, it HURTS!). The both collapsed.

"Not so tough now, are ya?" The aqua said, turning the intensity up and pressing the button again. He smiled at the stifled cries of pain. "The little girls have gotten themselves trapped in a spider's web. Aw, poor little girly girls!" The laughter from the rest rang in their ears. Gaby's eyes light red. She tried to get up but the Aqua turned it up and pressed the button again.

Kip's eyes opened slowly from all the noise. His vision was foggy and his head hurt. Then he heard Gaby and Lily's screams. He remembered.

Quickly he shook Seth. He woke up and saw the girls and the Team members. All of them had their attention on the girls now, so no-one was watching them. Seth wanted to run out and throttle the Aqua, but Kip stopped him.

_Gaby...Gaby, can you here me? _Kip thought hard, directing his thoughts to Gaby. He hoped this worked...

_Kip? Kip, is that you?_

"_You can hear me? Great!_

_Kip, you've got to get out of here. Take Seth and..._

_No! I'm not leaving you again!_

There was a break in the communication as the Aqua turned the intensity even higher and pressed the button again.

_K-Kip..._Gaby thought weakly. _I'm sorry..._ And she blacked out. Lily, however, was still conscious. She'd endured this before, though not so bad. She could and would tough it out long enough to transform. But she had to get out of this net. She had realized that the boys were conscious again. She caught Seth's eye and gave him a wink. He understood.

"Kip," Seth whispered, "We need to cause a distraction. We need to get Lily time to get out of that net!"

"Seth...Gaby just told us to run. I think she's right. We can't take all these guys on. There's got to be more then 50 here!"

"I don't care. I have to save Lily!" Seth said. Kip nodded.

"Three..."

"Two..."

"ONE!!!!"

They both jumped up and darted to the Aqua. Everyone was shocked for a second which gave them time. Seth kicked the Aqua hard while Kip distracted all the others. They tried to attack him, but he darted this way and that, always just out of their reach. He was leading them slowly away, towards the beach.

Seth was fighting full on with the Aqua now. The Aqua was a lot bigger then him, but Seth had the speed advantage. Lily, in the meantime, was struggling to get herself and Gaby free.

Seth was going very well until he tripped up and was hit full in the face. The sheer force of the blow knocked him over. He got up again.

"The little boy has come to save his girlfriend! How cute!" The Aqua teased as Seth shakily got up again.

"Yeah? Your point?!" And Seth launched a high kick to the stomach. It made the Rocket bend over and allowed Seth to hit him on the head, knocking him out.

Kip was getting closer and closer to the water's edge. He hoped he was right about this...

He was on the shore surrounded by 50 or more Team members. They laughed as they closed in. Kip smiled, waved, then jumped back into the shallow water.

All of a sudden a great splash resounded behind Kip and both the little and big Lugia came up. The Rockets cowered then retreated, screaming. Kip jumped on Silversong and chased them, keeping them as far away from the girls and Seth as possible.

Lily was finally free. With Seth's help they dragged the unconscious Gaby out from the net. Kip returned on Silversong and landed, sending both the Lugias back into the sea in case they needed them again.

"Is she ok?" Kip said, running to Gaby. Lily nodded.

"She's just unconscious. She'll be fine."

And Gaby woke up at that moment. She sat up rubbed her head and looked at Kip.

"You never listen, do you?"

"Nope!"

She laughed, then got up. They were just rejoicing when...

"So, you've managed to slip away from me twice now, eh, 001?" Dr. Sakio appeared from behind the trees. Seth clenched his fists. "Ah, and here's 002 as well, and that little brat from before, Kip, I think your name is. And..." He paused, his eyes wide at the sight of Seth.

"You!" Dr. Sakio said, detest and surprise in his voice.

"Yeah, me," Seth said, glaring at his father and his fist clenching harder.

"What are you doing here?"

"I think we should be the ones asking you," Lily said calmly.

"I've come to take back what is mine, and maybe an extra tester. But I never thought..."

"Ok. First of all, we don't belong to you," Gaby said.

"Second, meet my FIST!" Lily said, throwing a punch at him. However, it never got to him.

Dr. Sakio's eyes began to glow orange around the edges. Lily's fist froze mid-swing and she was thrown up in the air, then dropped. She got up again with Seth's help.

"Seth...Why are you here?"

"Why should I tell you, you bastard!" Seth shouted.

"Hmm. You still haven't learned any respect. And how's that Manectric doing? I hope well, since I still have to experiment on him."

"Don't you DARE touch him!" Seth yelled, charging at his father, but he was thrown back as well from the Telekinesis.

"Rrrgg...Damn you!" Seth said, getting up again and lunging at his father. His father laughed and threw him into Lily. Gaby, however, stopped him and Seth down in front of her. She turned and glared at Sakio, her eyes flaring and glowing orange around the edges.

"Ah, so you've learned to use your Psychic powers better now, have you? We'll have to run some more tests on you when we get to the lab."

"And what makes you think I'll come with you?"

"You could come conscious or not, it's your choice."

"Well I ain't going out without a fight!" Lily said. Opening her mouth she shot out a stream of flame, not hurting Lily at all but singing Sakio. He smiled.

"You've gotten better, too. We have our work cut out for us, now don't we? But you're nothing compared to my children."

"Children? You mean you've made more Pokémorphs?"

"Why of course! We've figured some things out in five years, and I now have 3 more. I hope you like them, you're going to meet them very soon."

He raised his hand and it started glowing. Suddenly Kip was thrown against a tree and lay there, unconscious because he had gone head-first.

Next he pointed his hand at Lily, and she suffered the same fate. Seth and Gaby were the only ones left. Dr. Sakio then tried to get Seth, but Gaby blocked it again.

"Don't resist me, I don't want to have to kill you, Gaby. You're much to valuable."

"I would appreciate it if you people would stop treating me like a PRIZE!!!!" She yelled, throwing her hand out and sending Sakio flying backwards. He countered it, however, and landed on his feet.

"Interesting...You are quite advanced in the way of Telekinesis." He threw his hand up, cutting Gaby across the cheek with his Psychic powers. Then he threw her up in the air.

"But not good enough."

And he slammed her down to the ground and she remained there, motionless. Now Seth turned to his father.

"Seth...It doesn't have to be this way between us. You can join me(To the Dark side, Luke! Hehe...Had to do that! Sorry)! Son..."

"I am not your son. Whatever I am, whatever I do with my life, I will NEVER be your son," Seth said firmly, glancing over at the unconscious Lily.

"I see. Well, I will give you time to re-consider in the lab."

And with that, he threw Seth up into the air and slammed him to the ground, where he remained, unconscious.


	21. Ch21:Labwork

Seth was the first to wake up. He was lying in a bed, and it looked strangely familiar...Wait...It was his old room!  
  
Seth jumped up and ran out the door. Though it had been so long ago, he knew dimly where everything was, and soon it came back to him.

He turned a corner to find where the once open lab had been, a large metal door now stood with a control pad. Seth cursed under his breath. There had to be another way in!

"Lost, little boy? Shouldn't you be on the other side of that door, with your 'friends?' " Said a cold and mocking voice behind him. Seth swung around. It was a Magma, and he was staring at Seth keenly.

"What's the code?" Seth said.

"And why should I tell you?"

"Because I SAID SO!!" Seth said, punching him in the stomach. The Magma stood up again.

"Ah, you must be the boss's son, then. The code's 2268742."

Seth turned around again as the Magma walked off, still cursing. He punched in the code and the door slowly opened.

Seth slipped through into the Lab. This he remembered better, since he had spent most of his time here. He glanced around. Then he spotted Kip and Lily. They were both in cages, and both were still unconscious. Gaby, however, was no-where in sight.

He tried to run over to run over to his two friends, but a voice called after him. Seth stopped abruptly at the sound of his father's voice.

"Trying to save your friends? How brave of you, Seth. You've grown a lot." Seth turned around slowly. He didn't notice that the place was empty of all scientists.

"Feh (I'm sorry, all manga/anime people say that). Don't talk like you know me."

"Seth..."

"Let them go."

"What? You of all people expect me to do that? Son, this is my life's work. I'm not going to give it up."

"Stop calling me son! I hate you! You're not my father!"

Dr. Sakio looked shocked at hearing it said aloud. He had feared this would happen. He sighed.

"Well, then, just get back to your room, unless you'd like to join your friends in there."

"No," Seth said plainly.

"What? Get back to your room like a good little boy."

"NO!! I WILL NOT BE CONTROLLED BY YOU!" Seth shouted.

Seth's shout had roused Kip and Lily. The sat up, looked at each other, then realized what was going on. Dr. Sakio looked over Seth's shoulder at them.

"Ah, you're awake. Now we can move you and begin the testing. Gaby's already in the big machine, so I guess you'll have to wait for you turn, 002. Kip, or should I say my going-to-be 006, we need to run a few tests so..."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH GABY?!?!?!" Kip said, jumping up. Lily followed his example.

"She's in the big machine. Why?"

"What IS the big machine?!" Lily yelled at Dr. Sakio.

"Would you like to see it? My dear departed master Giovanni left this whole place to me, including the wonderful equipment."

"Giovanni? You mean the old mastermind behind Team Rocket?" Kip asked, forgetting about the machine for the moment. Dr. Sakio nodded.

"Why of course! He was my master...And my wonderful creator!"

"Creator...?" Lily said, her eyes getting big in sudden realization. "That means..."

"Yes, I am a Pokémorph. A Mewtwo, to be exact."

"But...You don't look..." Kip said.

"Hmm? Ah, that would be because of these..." Sakio said. He reached onto his jacket and hit a button. Immediately a lavender tail and Mewtwo feet appeared. Everyone stared.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Seth said, looking at his father.

"I was afraid you'd hate me, Seth. Don't you see? All I want is to be friends with you, Seth! I don't want you to hate me!" Seth looked for a second like he was going to forgive his father. His eyes glazed over...

_Wait, why would his eyes glaze over?_ Kip thought. Then it clicked.

"Hey! You! Stop tricking him! Using Psychic powers doesn't count!" Kip yelled. Seth was starting to go into a trance.

"Seth!! Snap out of it!!!" Lily yelled, trying to bring Seth back.

"Silence, 002!" Sakio said, pressing a button on a table. Lily fell down and cried out in pain. Kip realized she had a silver collar around her neck, the same kind the executive had tried to put on Gaby. Then he realized he had on too.

Seth's eyes suddenly came back into focus at the sound of Lily's scream. He shook his head, then glared at his father.

"Damn you! Damn you and you lies! Leave her alone!!!!" And he charged at Sakio. His father turned around just in time and used Telekinesis to put Seth in a chair and hold him there.

"I think we should all see our friend 001 now. She'll be in the big machine for a couple more days. Let's just hope she responds to it as well as the other tests and doesn't die of neural shock."

Sakio pressed a button on a control panel, then typed in a code. There was a clicking sound. Then part of the wall started to rotated. When it turned all the way around, everyone was shocked at what they saw.

On the other side of the wall there had been a HUGE test tube. It stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and was filled with a dark but translucent green liquid. And inside...

"Gaby!" Kip yelled as he saw the person inside the tank.

Yes, Gaby. She was floating in the middle, curled up in a loose ball. Hundreds of wires were attached to her. Here eyes were half open, and they were completely blank(I mean COMPLETELY. Just white).

"G-Gaby..." Lily stuttered, shocked.

"How could you, you heartless bastard!" Seth said, glaring at his father. It was useless to try and attack him; he would just get thrown back again.

"How could I what? You wish to interfere with my science?"

"Let her go, Sakio."

Everyone turned to Kip. He was standing in his cage, glaring at Dr. Sakio.

"You've got guts, kid, trying to stand up to me. Hmm..." And suddenly Kip was outside his cage, facing Dr. Sakio.

"Let's see how far your will goes, Kip. Come at me."

Kip charged at Sakio, not care about what might happen to hi. Dr. Sakio threw out his hand and blasted Kip into the wall. Kip got up again and charged. Dr. Sakio repeated his attack, and once again Kip got up. The third time Kip charged, Dr. Sakio put up a blue energy bubble and Kip bounced off. He got up again and attacked. He was bloody and bruised, but he didn't care. He was in a blind fury.

"Stop, Kip!" Seth shouted.

"You'll be killed if you keep attacking him!!" Lily yelled.

"I don't care!!!!" Kip said, bouncing off the shield again. Dr. Sakio was laughing at Kip's attempts to reach him.

"How cute; The boy comes to the girl's rescue. You're mind is as easy to read as an open book with big print. You're very angry that I would do this to your girlfriend, and you want to kill me for doing something like this? How noble." He stopped Kip in the air with one hand. "But stupid." He slammed him against the ground, then threw him up again, making him hit the ceiling. "But, isn't that always the case? There's one good guy," He threw Kip down again, "Who always seems," He threw him up again, "To get in the way," He threw him down again, "Of the bad guy!" He slammed him against the wall, next to Seth. His was bleeding freely now. But to everyone's shock, he got up again. He stood up straight and faced Dr. Sakio.

"Isn't it always," He took a step towards him, "the good guy," He took another shaky step, "who always wins in the end?" He took another step. He was right in front of Sakio now.

"No," Dr. Sakio said. Raised one hand and raised Kip into the air. Kip put his hands to his throat, and is was plain that Sakio was choking him using Telekinesis. Right when Kip was about to pass out, a resounding crash of broken glass was heard. Everyone turned to the test tube.

Gaby was standing, the white lab clothes she was dressed in dripping with the strange fluid. Gaby's head was bent to the ground, and she was motionless. Everyone stared. Then she raised her head.

Her eyes were a flaming blood red. She looked all the way up at Sakio. Sakio dropped Kip immediately out of shock. Seth, finally released from the Telekinesis, ran over to Kip's side. Kip sat up, rubbing his throat and looking at Gaby. Lily suddenly stiffened.

_Something's not right...Gaby...What are you doing? _Lily though. There had been a serious surge in the room, and now it was constant, emanating from Gaby.

"Impossible!!!" Dr. Sakio said, stepping back in fear. "How..."

"How did I escape, you wonder? That glass was supposed to be unbreakable by none but the strongest morphs, and you never made me to be so powerful? You mind, despite your claims, is so easy to read I could do in my sleep. For your information, you accidentally made me to be so powerful that I could break through anything if I had the training you had from Giovanni. I might not have had that kind of evil and impure help, and I don't really know how I just did that, but I know one thing: Unless you want to be incinerated on the spot by Lily and I, I suggest you leave us alone!!!"

And, sure enough, Lily appeared beside Gaby. Dr. Sakio laughed.

"You two children think you can beat me like that? Ha! I think it's time you met my _real _family!" Dr. Sakio said. He raised his hand and it glowed blue, then red, then pink. He put his hand down and smiled cruelly at them.

"I believe this should be good practice for my children. I hope you find this amusing!"

Everyone looked confused for a moment, but it soon became clear what he was talking about.


	22. Ch22:The three new experiments

Author's note: I have to tell you people this: I've been listening to the Johto Pokérap over and over. It's AWESOME! It's the first time I've heard it! It's great!

Sorry...Just needed to get that out of my system....On with the story!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Three people appeared suddenly behind Dr. Sakio. Gaby's eyes turned to purple (confusion) at the intense Psychic energy of the three, hidden by some force. Then it disappeared, and everyone gasped as two of them leapt over Dr. Sakio and landed, one in front of Gaby, the other in front of Lily. Both girls looked shocked.

The one in front of Lily was a girl. She was about 5'8", looked around 17, and wore mainly red and white. She would have looked normal if she hadn't been a Pokémorph.

She had red hair with white streaks in it, had strange red Pokémon-ish feet, and (though not visible at the moment) a blue triangle on her stomach (Who's that Pokémon? Hehe...)

In front of Gaby was a boy. He was somewhere around 5'9", and wore blue and white. And once again, it was a Pokémorph.

He had blue hair with white streaks in it, had those strange feet (only blue), and (once again, not visible) a red triangle on his stomach (Who's that Pokémon? 't resist)

In front of Dr. Sakio was a little girl. She was around 7 years old, had long, pale green hair, and wore a long, green dress. Also a Pokémorph, she had little antenna that turned blue at then ends, little shimmering wings, and round, green Pokémon feet.

"So you're Gaby?" The boy in front of Gaby said, looking her over. "I though you'd be more impressive, being a Lugia morph and all."

"I don't know, brother, they may prove to be more troublesome then expected," said the girl in front of Lily.

"Why do you guys always get to have all the fun?" The little girl in standing in front of Sakio whined, sounding bored.

"Let me introduce my children," Sakio said. He pointed to the girl in front of him. "This is 003," he pointed to the girl in front of Lily, "This is 004," And he pointed to the boy in front of Gaby, "And this is 005. 004 and 005 were designed to get rid of you if you decided to be troublesome. 003 here is my little girl, aren't you?"

"Yup! I love my daddy!" The little girl said, hugging Sakio. Everyone stood, dumbfounded. Sakio took her by her shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"You want to help daddy out?"

"Of course!"

"See that boy over there?" He said pointing to Kip. She nodded. "Play with him."

"Sure thing!"

"Yo! You're not leaving me out of this!" Seth said, trying to sound under control and playful to the little girl.

"Hmm? Daddy, can I play with him too?"

"Sure! Just be careful not to hurt them too much!" Sakio said, standing up. She nodded.

"Ok!" And she ran over to the boys. She looked up at them. Seth smiled down at her. Kip looked at him like he was crazy.

"Seth! What are you doing?!" Kip asked.

"Poor thing...Kip, I think Sakio erased her memory. She really thinks she's his daughter. We can't hurt her. She's innocent."

"Yeah, but that's not gonna stop her from hurting us!!!" Kip said as he and Seth were lifted into the air by 003's psychic powers.

"Ack! 003!!!!" Seth said, flailing around in the air. The girl giggled. "Can you put us down?"

"Ok!" And they dropped painfully. This repeated several times before the rest of the people turned away and faced each other.

"So you made these people to kill us? Gee, what a terrible point in life," Gaby said, her eyes purple (Arrogance). "Really sad, actually. What, were you afraid you couldn't beat me?" Dr. Sakio just smiled.

"No, that is not their sole purpose in life, but you don't need to know that, do you? You'll see soon enough, anyway. That is, if you survive! 004 and 005! Don't hold back!"

And the two levitated into the air. They surveyed them for a while, muttering things to each other.

"Hmm...001 seems more educated in her powers then 002...Of course we outclass them a hundred fold," Said the one named 004.

"Sis, you're too cautious. Who cares about their abilities? They won't get a chance to use them, anyway!"

"Hey!" Lily and Gaby shouted, Gaby's eyes abruptly changing orange (annoyance).

The two morphs in the air glanced at each other, then at Dr. Sakio.

"Father, may we please take this outside?" Said 004. "I wouldn't want to mess up your lab."

"Certainly," Sakio said. He pressed yet another button on a table (These rockets like buttons too much, don't you think?) and the roof opened up. The two morphs flew up out of the building. Gaby and Lily hesitated.

"You guys gonna be ok?" Lily asked the guys, who were being levitated and dropped for the 58th time.

"Yeah, we'll manage," Seth said, adding another 'ow' as he was dropped to the delight of the girl. "You guys go stop those morphs. And don't underestimate them. Sakio's gotten better since he mutated you guys. Who knows what they can do!"

The girls nodded and flew up. As soon as they did, the roof closed with a sharp snap. The girls were surprised at what they saw.

Floating in mid air were the two siblings. And they had created one hell of a storm (Watch the first movie. It's kinda like Mewtwo's storm, only with serious lighting. I mean 7 times a second or so, and yes, that's possible in real life. And pouring buckets. Just to give you an idea). The two siblings looked down at them.

"So, this is it. Let's see if the reports are right," Said 005, looking down at Gaby, a smirk on his face. "Would you like to start this battle in you 'human' form or in you Pokémon form?"

"What?" Gaby said.

"I said..."

"I know what you said, I'm just trying to figure out why the bad guy is letting the good guy choose the standards!" Gaby shouted over the thunder and rain.

"Common courtesy," Said 004. That received an anime Blink Blink from Gaby and Lily.

"Oh."

"So? What do you chose?"

"Human, I guess..." Gaby said, still trying to get over the fact that there could be courteous villains.

"Alright then!" The boy said (Note: I'll use 'Siblings' and 'Friends' to tell who's who if I don't use their name or number. Also, I'm listening to the Pokémon song 'Everything Changes' and it sounds very wrong. Sorry about the randomness...)

The siblings flew at the two at the two friends. They managed to dodge out of the way, but just barely. The two siblings joined up again.

"My, they are quick! Like Rattata running from the Arbok," The boy said (Don't I rock. I translated 'Like mice running from the lion' to what I have there).

"HEY!!!!!" Gaby said. Her eyes flashed red. Lily nudged her.

"Calm down! He's trying to upset you!"

"Look, the little Caterpie's trying to help! How cute!" The girl said tauntingly.

"HEY!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Calm down, Lily!!" Gaby said, holding Lily back (Chibi style). They siblings laughed.

"Let her go, 001. Let's see what she's got!" The girl said, floating in front of her. Lily

broke free of Gaby's grasp and lunged at the girl. She dodged it easily.

"Oh, that's right, you have to beat wings to stay airborne. Too bad you don't have a Pokémon power like Levitate!"

"Pokémon Power? What's that?" Gaby asked.

"Oh, don't tell me you don't know!" Said the boy mockingly. Gaby's eyes turned orange again.

"It's a special ability that Pokémon and Pokémorphs have, though I suppose you wouldn't know yours since...Uh...Wait, why haven't you heard of Pokémon powers?"

(Uh, because you can't get Lugia with a Pokémon power! Well, if you use a Gameshark...)

"How the hell would I know?!" Gaby said. (Ok, I know what it is, but I'm gonna change it because 'Pressure' is kinda hard to apply here...)

"Aww, the poor thing. She doesn't have an Ability!" The boy said, floating around Gaby.

"So what? I'm a lot better then you'll ever be!" Gaby said, her eyes tingeing orange around the edges as she was about to Psychic, "And here's the proof!!!"

She threw out a hand, which was glowing blue. The boy was thrust backward. But before Gaby could even move, _she _was slammed down onto the roof at least 90 mph. Gaby got up shakily.

"Hmm. She's not bad," The boy said, watching as Gaby levitated up back to Lily.

"002, your turn," The girl said.

Lily didn't need telling twice. Beating her wings as fast as she could, she flew forward and used a traditional Wing Attack on the girl. The girl barely managed to avoid, then kicked out, catching Lily in the back. Like Gaby, she was sent hurtling towards the roof, only that Gaby stopped her with her Psychic powers and set her beside herself.

--------

Back below, the girl had finally gotten tired of slamming the two now thoroughly bruised boys on the floor and was now spinning them around in mid air, giggling with delight.

"Wait a second..." Seth said. "Hey, wanna have a Pokémon battle, 003?"

"Ok!" She said, dropping them on the ground and running out the door. She came back two seconds later with six Pokéballs.

"Three on three, Kip first," She said plainly. Kip got up, fell over because of the pain and dizziness, then got up again. Realizing he didn't have his bag, he turned to Sakio.

"Uh, where's my stuff?" Kip said, still disoriented from the spinning.

"There," He said, pointing to his bag which was now being levitated to him. He caught it. "We haven't touched you Pokémon, or yours, Seth. No, we haven't even seen 001's or 002's. There was no point at the time."

"Right," Kip said, finally getting his senses together and facing the girl. "Go, Psylight!"

The Espeon appeared on the field, standing ready for attack. The girl smiled.

"Not bad, but try this! Go, Crawdaunt!"

The crab-like Pokémon appeared on the floor, surveying the Espeon before it. It clicked its pincers at it threateningly.

"Alright Psylight, attack it with Swift!" Kip shouted. The Espeon obeyed as white stars flew at the other Pokémon. Since Swift is unavoidable, it hit the crab-Pokémon full force, sending it flying. It scuttled back again.

"Alright Crawdaunt! Crabhammer!!!" The girl shouted. The Pokémon attack the Espeon, scoring a critical hit and fainting it instantly. Kip gaped at his fallen Pokémon.

"ACK! Return!!!!" Kip said, returning it and sending out a second Pokémon. "GO! QUICKZAP!!!"

The Raichu appeared, sparks flying from its cheeks. The girl had already returned her Crawdaunt (I'm being like the show now. For some strange reason after they faint the other Pokémon they return it) and grabbed a second Pokéball.

"Let's go, Claydol!"

The Ground-Psychic Pokémon appeared. Kip looked at it with worry on his face. This girl had all his type match-ups.

"Quickzap! Mega Kick that Claydol!" Kip said. The Raichu jumped forward and tried to drive its foot into the Claydol. Unfortunately, the Claydol was ready and it dodged it.

"Good, Claydol! Now, Psybeam!"

The Raichu was blasted back with the force. Kip returned it immediately. Grabbing his third and final Pokéball, he threw it into the air.

"You're my last hope! Darkfaller!"

The Houndoom materialized, growling and ready to pounce. The girl had returned her Pokémon and had thrown her third into the air.

"Come on out, Hariyama!"

The immense Fighting-type Pokémon came out. It glanced at the dog-like Pokémon growling at it then took a fighting stance.

"Please let this work! Darkfaller, Hyper Beam!!!!"

The Houndoom opened it's mouth and let out an enormous amount of energy, blasting the Hariyama back. It landed shakily as the Houndoom panted with the effort.

"Alright! Reversal!"

The Hariyama attack, and since its HP was low, it caused some serious damage. The Houndoom got up, growling.

"Darkfaller, can you attack yet?" Kip asked. The Houndoom looked back at him with tired eyes.

"Of course not! For a Pokémon as poorly trained as yours, how could it be?" The girl said.

"Hey! Darkfaller's got a lot more in him then it looks! Darkfaller, Flamethrower!"

The Houndoom fought its fatigue and opened its mouth, emitting a blast of flame. The Hariyama took the attack. The Houndoom, however, fainted right there. Kip ran out to it.

"Darkfaller!! Are you ok?" Kip said, kneeling by his Pokémon while the girl and the Hariyama celebrated. Kip returned his Houndoom.

"Seth, it's up to you. Let's just hope you can take her down!" Kip said, retreating to Seth's side.

Seth nodded and stepped up to face the girl as she returned her Pokémon and faced him.

"He was fun! Now let's see if you're as good as him!" The girl said, pulling out another Pokéball and throwing it in the air.

-------

Outside, an all out battle was taking place. Gaby was fighting Psychically with the boy, while Lily was fighting more physically with the girl. Both friends were getting tired, but the energy of the siblings seemed unconquerable.

Finally Lily managed to throw the girl to Gaby, who tag-teamed with her and sent her slamming down with a blow from her tail. The girl shook herself off and returned to her brother's side.

"They appear to be quite strong as a team," She said, rubbing her arm. "But that's only in their human form. I wonder how they do in their Pokémon forms."

"Me as well," Said the boy. They both started glowing, the boy glowing blue and the girl glowing red.

"And now we challenge you to a Pokémon battle using yourself!" They said in unison as two bright flashes lit the area.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So? Give me your guesses as to what these experiments are! If you guess right, you'll get a cookie! Yay!


	23. Ch23:Colossal battles

Author's note: OK! HERE ARE THE RESULTS!!!!

Hazy Aurora: THE ONLY PERSON TO GET IT RIGHT-ON! YAY! ((Gives you another cookie))

Nevos: Close, but not quite. ((Gives you a big cookie anyway))

demon-slayer13: YOU SUCK. Well...I suppose you wouldn't know...((Gives you small cookie))

linkmaster27: It's ok. Your like Sango-Chan. ((Gives you a small cookie anyway)) ANYWAY, GABY ROCKS IN LUGIA FORM! SHE'S JUST NOT USED TO BEING 17'1" AND HYPER-POWERFUL!!!!

Act: You got dead on, but missed the little girl. ((Gives you big cookie))

And the results...Read on! The first two are first, but what is this mysterious little girl?

Oh yeah!!!!! This is really important!

Too many notes. I promise I'll keep them down later, but right now I have a really important one. Or two. The first one: All Pokémorphs have something on their Pokémon form that distinguishes them from regular Pokémon. Second, here they are:

004's are blue markings around one of her eyes, as well as blue stripes on her sides.

005's is the same, only reversed in colours and the opposite eye.

Lily resembles the Charizard in the first movie with the darker stripes on its sides, as well as one scar on the left side of her face.

Gaby has blue stripes on her sides, on her wings, and lots of stripes on her tail.

And the little girl doesn't transform.

Ok, that's it. On with the story!

Wait! I need to tell you guys something else! xx'

"_Quote" _is used for 004, _'' _is used for 005, and Gaby is just in regular italics. If someone's thinking, you'll know because I'll put: _BlahBlahBlah, _thought Gaby. Poor Lily, she can only roar. But I'll make the peoples translate for you poor guys who don't understand Pokémon. ##

Ok, that really is it!

Wait! Something else!!!

No time passes between. When I switch back and forth, I continue right where I left off.

Ok! I think that's it.

C Ya!

Gaby

--------------------------------------------------

When the flash subsided, two Pokémon now floated where the two siblings had been. One was (Drum roll....Hehe...') a Latios, and the other was a Latias. Lily, wasting no time, was enveloped in a bright orange and red (KIRARA!!! Sorry again...). A second later, a Charizard was hovering where Lily had been. The Charizard that was Lily turned to Gaby. Gaby looked afraid. Then she heard a voice in her head.

'_Aww, are you afraid, 001?' _It was unmistakably the voice of the boy. _'Are you afraid you haven't mastered your powers yet? Pity. I was really hoping for a challenge. Oh well, maybe I'll just go and dismember you little friends down there next time I'm bored.'_

To Gaby that was the last straw. Her eyes turned a very dark, blood red and a blinding white flash, even brighter then all the others, enveloped them. When it subsided, Gaby was in her Lugia form. Without waiting a second, she opened her mouth and began charging energy.

----------------------

"Come on out, Salamence!" the little girl cried as she threw her Pokéball into the air and released her Dragon/Flying type.

"Alright...Let's fight Dragon with Dragon! Go, Flyer!"

The Flygon appeared. Glaring at the Salamence, it took off, dodging its attempts to bring it down.

"Salamence! Dragon Claw!"

"Flyer! Dodge it!"

The Flygon swooped out of the way just as the Salamence attack. Missing, it kept going and rammed into a table, knocking it over. Seth took this opportunity.

"Flyer! Get it while it's down! Hyper beam!"

Before the Salamence could counter, the little Flygon had blasted it out of the way, knocking it instantly unconscious. The little girl returned it, as did Seth.

"You're pretty good, Seth," The girl said, taking out another ball. "But let's see if you're as good as I am! Let's go, Dusclops!"

"Bring it on! Let's show her what we're made of, Ironfight!"

The Aggron came onto the field, roaring and ready to charge. The girl giggled.

"Big Pokémon, small brain! Just like its master!" She taunted. Seth remained motionless.

"You hear that, Ironfight? Let's show her we've got smarts in with all this power! Iron Tail!"

Swinging its tail about and knocking more then one table over, the Aggron charged at the Dusclops. Avoiding the attack, the Dusclops charged up power.

"Alright, Psychic!"

"Ironfight! Get out of there...!" Seth started, but it was too late. As the Aggron was blasted back, it left a dent in the wall and did not get up again. Seth returned it.

"Aww, seems I'm right!" said 003 as she returned her Pokémon. "What do you have left?"

"More then enough!!!" Seth said as he drew out a Pokéball with a yellow lighting bolt on it. "I can take anything you throw at me!"

"Really? Then you'll have no trouble with this?" The girl said, opening a Pokéball. And out came a Metagross.

"Child's play!" Seth said, also releasing his Pokémon out onto the floor. "Nothing to hard for Sparks here!" Dr. Sakio's eyes went wide as the room was charged with electricity. The lights exploded from the sheer energy being emitted by this super-charged, super-powerful, and right now, super-PO'd Pokémon.

"Seth, is that...?"

"You bet it is, Sakio. That little, weak Manectric is Sparks. And you'll never gonna touch him! Sparks, electrify that Metagross with Thunder!!!"

The charged up Electric type zapped the room. Even those battling above heard it, though none took any mind, since there were much bigger things going on.

-----------------------------------

Gaby blasted the finally charged energy wildly about. Lily had to swerve out of the way to avoid it. The hyper-powered Aeroblast caught the Latios, blasting it back, while the Latias also managed to avoid it. The Latios could not overpower the blow, and it was thrown back quite a distance until it was finally able to gain control again. It flew back as Gaby stopped the attack, only to begin charging for her next blow.

'_Well, you're not as weak as you look, 001. Very impressive,' _rang the male voice in Gaby's head. She paused her charging for a moment to glare at the Latios. _'But is that the best you can do?'_

Gaby released Aeroblast once again at the boy, but this time he was ready. He dodged the attack easily, and, using Psychic, turned it around right back at Gaby. Gaby, thinking fast, focused _her _Psychic and stopped it against the Latios's own attack. The now intensified ball of energy was now hovering between them, growing bigger all the while. To make things worse, the Latias was now contributing her powers to the Latios's, pushing the attack towards Gaby. Lily, however, would not let this stand.

Flying directly into the Latias, Lily grabbed it and started spiralling upward. The Latias struggled, but it was no used. Lily suddenly turned around in mid air and sped towards the ground. Her well-executed Seismic Toss would have worked if only the weather had been kind.

The Latias, about to be thrown into the ground, re-directed a lighting strike and set it on Lily. The Latias put up a small Psychic barrier to block the jolt, but Lily got the full shock. Letting go of the Latias, Lily plummeted to the earth at 90 mph.

Gaby, seeing this, used the last of her energy to throw the attack off-course, re-directing it harmlessly into the ground. Then using up whatever was left of her will, she threw herself under Lily and broke her fall.

The two lay there on the ground, defeated, just as they heard a powerful blast come from the inside of the dome. In a flash and spout of fire, Gaby and Lily lay there, unconscious. The two now human siblings floated down and landed next to them, looking them over.

"001 has a very strong will, brother. I'm afraid she won't break easily. And 002's no small task either. She's incredibly strong," Said the girl, surveying Lily.

"Hmm...001 does seem to possess incredible power, but it hasn't been tuned. It's just like that old story that Dr. Sakio told us a long time ago, about the Mewtwo (Author's note: First movie) and him not being able to focus his powers until Giovanni taught him how. Maybe 001 will do that as well." Said the boy, glancing down at the unmoving Gaby.

"Only with a better ending!" Joked the girl. The boy smiled.

"Come on, we should get these guys inside. Then need to be put back-" Started the boy, but all of a sudden, there was a blast from the dome and Kip and Seth flew out, Seth on his Tropius and Kip on his Noctowl.

"Gaby!"

"Lily!"

Both boys flew straight at the siblings, but they simply raised their hands and stopped them mid air. The siblings looked them over intently.

"So, you defeated out little sister?" 005 said, glaring at them coldly. "You should be nice to her. After all, she _is _the second-rarest would-be Pokémon in the world."

"Yeah, I've been wondering what she is," Seth said, remaining calm while Kip was struggling to get free from the Psychic grasp. "Tell me, is she a Celebi morph?"

"Right you are, half-brother!" Said the boy, smiling at Seth. Seth nodded thoughtfully.

"My, she does have good Pokémon. She nearly beat me. More clones, I suppose?"

"Correct again, half-brother. You are a sharp one," Said the girl.

"What the hell...?" Kip said suddenly stopping his flailing in mid-air and looking behind the two siblings.

"What is it, Kip?" Seth asked looking over at him.

"Seth...Brace yourself!" Kip said. Seth looked at him like he was insane, but it was soon made very clear what was going on. The two siblings turned around.

The sound came first. And eerie call, followed by a higher one, and the sound of beating wings. Then they saw it.

Coming at them with blinding speed were two Lugias, one much smaller then the other. Silversong arrived first, throwing Gaby and Lily onto him, whacking the siblings out of the way with his tail. They tried to get up and attack, but Kip's little Lugia held them back with her Psychic powers. Kip and Seth were released, and they flew away with Silversong. The little Lugia threw the two siblings into the air, then batted them with her tail, making them slam into the ground. Then she sped away to catch up with the rest.

"Let's get them, sis!" Said the boy, ready to blast after them. A voice stopped him.

"Let them go, 005." It was Dr. Sakio, carrying a sleeping 003. "Let them run. I've installed a tracker in 001 to make sure she doesn't escape us this time. We can find them whenever we want."

He nodded. With that, all three of them returned to the lab.


	24. Ch24:You're not alone in the world

Author's Note: Ok, I don't think this'll be as long as the last one, but I might be wrong...

Alright. First of all, I'm going to write my chapters like episodes now. I mean in the way I right them. I'm going to cut them or continue them like an episode, and I'll explain things at the end sometimes. What am I saying?! I can't leave out my precious Author's Notes!!! Alright....How do I explain this...?

I'm going to start cutting my ends at sometimes less, sometimes more cliffy parts, ex. Last chapter. I wanted to cut it at 'Brace yourself', but I'm doing the episode thing now, and I've never seen an episode of Pokémon cut at a place like that. ARG!!! I can't explain this right!!!  
  
Here we go. This is what I'm trying to say. My story might be slightly different now in how long or short it is, as well what order I put things in. Don't worry, I'm not changing my actual style of writing...I'm not making any sense, am I?

I've got it!!! JUST READ IT AND YOU'LL SEE FOR YOURSELF!!!!

Thanks for enduring my long, self-battling conversation.

OH!!!! Dude, I just remembered!!! In this chapter, nothing bad happens and you find out that there's another classic character other then Giovanni in my story!! Oh!!! This is gonna rock!!!!

Wait, before you get excited, it's not Ash. I'm sorry, but I think Ash is kinda stupid. He won't have a big part...But maybe I could do something with him...But none of my characters are, like, defendants or anything. Just so you don't get your hopes up.

See? It was a little shorter then last time!!

Yours truly,

Gaby/My other names

-----------

They had landed in a remote forest some miles east of the lab. Once they had landed, the boys had returned their Pokémon and bolted over to the still unconscious and thoroughly beat-up girls.

"Wake up!!!!" Kip said, nudging Gaby. Seth was shaking Lily. Both girls opened their eyes. They both sat up immediately.

"What happened?!" Lily asked, rubbing her head. "How are you here? Where are we?"

"What she said!" Gaby agreed, looking around.

"We're not sure what happened exactly, but we blasted out of the lab and tried to take those two morphs on. Then Silversong and...Uh...Do you have a name?" Kip asked, looking at the little Lugia.

"_My name's Seaflier," _Said the Lugia. To Kip's and everyone else's surprise, her voice sounded much older and, now that they looked at her properly, she had grown a great deal more. She must be at least 3 feet high now!

"Uh...Ok...Silversong and Seaflier came and rescued both of us and now we're here," Kip finished.

"Oh."

"So how did you guys do?" Gaby asked, finally regaining her senses. She had used recover on herself and Lily, and was now resting against a tree.

And so the boys explained their dealings with 003, and the girls explained their battle with the siblings. When they were done, it was near midnight.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry," Lily said, clutching her stomach. Gaby nodded. Somehow, Seaflier had picked up both their bags when she had ran away, and Gaby had a few berries left in the bottom of her bag.

"What are you doing?!" Gaby yelled as Kip reached for the berries. "I have 6 left! Give me a minute and I'll have 60."

"What?! How can you do that?" Lily asked.

"Like this! Go, Affection!" The Meganium appeared, looked around at Gaby, and walked over to her.

"Yo, Seth, can I borrow your Starmie?" Gaby asked, starting to bury the berries (Sounds funny!).

"Uh, sure. Go, Mystify!" Seth said, and his Starmie appeared.

"Ok," Gaby said as she finished burying the last one. "Can you use a Water Gun over here?"

The Starmie spouted out water at the ground, spraying everyone else in the process. Seth returned it at a nod from Gaby.

"Alright Affection, to live up to your name! Do your thing!" The Meganium walked over to the wet ground and bent its head down. It took in a deep breath, then exhaled on the ground. Instantly grass sprouted and a sapling came up out of the ground. After a few more breaths, it was a full-scale berry tree.

"Wait a second..." Kip said, pulling out something from his bag. It gave a loud beep and started talking.

"_Please state which time era entry you would like the Pokédex to give data on."_

"Uh...Give me around...I don't know, give me the entry about reviving stuff," Kip said to the machine in his hand.

"_Meganium. The herb Pokémon. Meganium's breath has the power to revive dead grass and plants. It can make them healthy again."_

"Kip...What IS that?" Gaby asked, looking over at Kip and his talking-computer thing.

"This? This is called a Pokédex. It has data on every single Pokémon in the world."

"I've heard of those! Hey, aren't they really rare? I mean, I've only ever heard of Pokémon Professors giving those things out to trainers," Lily said, looking over at the little red computer-thing intently (Hey, that's how I described it when I first saw it in the show!).

"Yeah, Professor Birch gave it to me."

"Birch? Oh, yeah, he's the professor in...This continent's called 'Hoenn', right? I lost track," Gaby said, resuming her berry picking.

"Yeah, we're in Hoenn," Lily said looking around. Then she looked at Gaby, who had floated down with about 30 berries. "Food?"

"Here ya go," She said, handing her 10. She handed each of the boys 10, then went back up and collect the last 30 from all the trees. Planting another 10 berries, she repeated the process. After about 15 minutes, all the Pokémon were fed, as well as all the people. Kip, Lily, Seth and most of the Pokémon had fallen asleep, but Gaby couldn't. Something was bugging her...But she couldn't put her finger on it. She was exhausted. If only she could fall asleep...

Suddenly a snap of a twig broke her out of her trance. Looking around, she could defiantly sense something. Hearing nothing else, she slumped back down again. And then...

_Snap!_

This time it was loud, and it woke everyone up. Running was heard, and it was getting away.

"What was that? A Pokémon?" Seth asked, looking for the 't it?" Lily said.

"No, it wasn't a Pokémon!!!" Gaby yelled, glaring at the source of the noise. "Yo!!!!! Get back here, you little thieving...!!!!"

"Gaby...!!!!" Kip said as Gaby bolted off into the forest. "What is it?!" But Gaby couldn't hear him. "Dammit!!!! What's with her?!"

"Uh....Just noticing...All our stuff is gone," Seth said, looking around. He was right. All their bags were gone.

"Shit!!!" Lily said, following Gaby. Both boys shrugged and followed her.

Meanwhile, Gaby was chasing after the thing, but it wasn't getting any closer. _Damn, this thing is fast! I can't catch it! _She thought. Then it hit her.

Stopping suddenly, she whistled. About 10 seconds later, Slicksilver was flying towards her. Jumping on, she started chasing the thing, and it was defiantly getting closer. (Author's note: FIRST CHAPTER!!! Hehe)

Suddenly an orange blur was right behind her. Gaby smiled as Lily, flying low to the ground, appeared at her side. They could both hear the boy's futile attempts to catch up.

Now they were really close to their thief. They could hear the footsteps now. Suddenly Lily flew forward and the sound of her pinning something to the ground was heard.

Gaby saw Lily, and jumped off Slicksilver. And their thief?

Struggling to get free from under Lily was a boy, only about 10 or 11 at most. Wearing a green t-shirt, baggy, and ripped sweat pants (Our first non-jean person!), he gave off the look of 'Runaway Rogue'. He would have looked ordinary if she hadn't been...

A Pokémorph.

Long, black and grey years came up out of his semi-long jet-black hair. His eyes were red. Underneath his eyes, on each side, were two black marks. A tail black, furry tail poked out of his sweats. Finally, his feet were covered in black fur, ended with three toes and claws.

"Hey!! Let go of me!!" The boy said, struggling hard against Lily.

"You're...A...." Lily said, letting go in surprise. The boy jumped away.

"A what? A..." He started, but now that he standing he got a good look at the girls.

"You're a POKÉMORPH?!?!" All three said at the same time. At that moment, the boys caught up with them.

"What'd we miss?" Seth asked, panting. Then he and Kip saw the boy.

"Uh..."

"Who the He-...I mean...Who are you?" Gaby said after a nudge from Lily.

"I should be asking who the hell YOU are!!" The boy said, backing away. _Ok...Don't need to worry about language around this kid! _Gaby thought.

"I've got a question for you," Gaby said, stepping forward. "Why did you take our stuff? I won't hurt you."

"It's not like you can," said the boy cockily. Gaby looked ticked.

"I'll show you!!" Gaby said, the edges of her eyes glowing orange as she was about to use telekinesis. Focusing her powers on the boy, she tried to lift him into the air...and couldn't.

"What the hell-?" Gaby said. The boy smirked.

"My, you are stupid. Don't you know that Psychic's can't effect Dark-types?" Said the boy in a very arrogant tone.

"Why you-!!!!" Gaby said, trying to run at the boy, but Seth, Kip and Lily held her back (Chibi style). The boy laughed.

"Ok...New tactic...Mind explaining yourself?" Lily asked letting Gaby fall forward, landing on her face. The boy looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Give me food and I'll tell you all I remember."

----------------------------------------

10 minutes later, the boy had finished eating their entire stock of berries, whatever food they had left, and half their water supply. Gaby was still annoyed and mumbling something about it 'not being fair'. Finally, the boy was ready to talk.

"Alright, what'd ya wanna know?" he asked.

"Uh, well, what's your name(just so I don't have to keep writing 'the boy'. We don't want another Lily episode where her name wasn't known until 2 1/2 chapters later...)?" Lily asked.

(Goes off to find name and comes back an hour later)

"My name's Kieran. What are yours?"

"Lily."

"Seth."

"Kip."

"Name's Gaby," Gaby said finally. "Now tell me, how did you become a Pokémorph?"

"Well...Uh...I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Gaby said.

"I don't know!! How would I know? I've been an orphan all my life. My mom dies when I was really little, and I never knew my dad. I've been living on my own now with my Pokémon for about 8 years. Talk about tough. I can't go into a single town to even find food, so I've been living off whatever me and my Pokémon find."

"You don't remember your...past?" Gaby said, suddenly realising that she didn't remember her past either. "Sakio...!"

"Wait a sec...That's impossible!!" Seth said suddenly. "He can't be on of Sakio's. You were his first, Gaby? Remember, he started making more _after _you. That means someone else did this, which is impossible, or..."

"Or what?" Lily asked.

"Or one of his parents were one of Giovanni's creations," Gaby finished. The boy blinked.

"Uh, who's Giovanni?" He asked, looking at the people around him. ((Anime sweat-drop to all))

"He's this mega-evil long dead Team Rocket villain guy from a long time ago," Kip explained.

"Oh, that old Team Rocket leader guy? Never met one of them, but then, I wouldn't really want to."

"No you wouldn't," Gaby said. "So anyway, you say you've got Pokémon?"

"Yup! 6 great guys who can easily take down all of you any day!" He said cockily ((more sweat-drops)).

"Care to test that one out on me?" Lily said, standing up and pulling out a Pokéball.

"Sure thing!"

Lily and Kieran both threw their Pokéballs up into the air, and their battle began on a single note from both:

"Go!"


	25. Ch25:Kieran: little kid, big battles

Author's note: See? And if you don't, you suck. Not much new, just read and enjoy!

OH!!! Yeah, for my drawing purposes, Gaby no longer has Lugia eye fins. Ok? Just pretend she never had them.

:-

Gaby

--------

Two Pokémon materialised in front of their trainers. Lily had a Salamence out and Kieran had a Mightyena.

"What is that?" Kieran and Gaby asked at the same time.

"Uh, it's a Dragon-Flying type. It has a really high attack power," Kip said to Gaby. She nodded.

"That's right, and Salamence also have a very high speed. Arrow!!! Give it a Dragon Claw!"

The Salamence lunged at the Mightyena, but apparently the Mightyena was better trained then it looked. Dodging it easily, the Mightyena landed behind it, waiting for a command.

"Awesome work, Bro!" Kieran said, cheering his Mightyena on. "Now, Shadow Ball!"

The Mightyena sent a dark energy ball at the Salamence, hitting it right in the side. Though it didn't look like much, it sent the Salamence flying backwards. It righted itself.

"Wow..." Lily said in awe. "Uh...Alright! Counter it with Fire Blast!"

The Salamence opened its mouth and released the five-point attack. The Mightyena had no escape. Or so they thought.

"Hehe. This is child's play. Come on, Bro, let's show this girl what we've got! Dig!"

The Mightyena disappeared just as Fire's most powerful attack reached him. He was nowhere in sight.

"Stupid kid! Dig's a Ground-Type move! It won't effect Arrow!"

"That wasn't the goal, now was it? Did I ever say I wanted to attack you? I was just avoiding the attack! But your right. Dig won't effect you Salamence. But..."

The Mightyena burst out of the ground behind the Salamence. In mid-air, he glanced over at his trainer for instructions.

"Attack formation 2!" Was all that Kieran said. The Mightyena jumped onto the Salamence and used Crunch. The Salamence tried to shake it off, but the teeth were dug into the skin. Then, when the Salamence was again trying to throw it off, the Mightyena let go and opened it's mouth. In a second, the charged Hyper-Beam was released, and the Salamence was defeated.

"What?!" Lily said, looking at Kieran in disbelief as he greeted his Mightyena by petting him. "How did that kid-?"

"He fights as well as any trainer I've seen," Seth said.

"He fights pretty well," Gaby said. "Let's see what else you've got. Make it a double battle this time. This'll be the last one, and don't use that Mightyena. Does he have a nickname? Other then Bro, I mean."

"His real name's Prowler, but I just call him Bro. I mean, we're both the same. I'm a Mightyena Pokémorph."

"Right. Thought so. Anyway, you two, pick your Pokémon," Gaby said. Lily looked at her. "What?"

"Why do we have to battle?"

"She does this. It's her little test-thing she does to let you in," Kip said.

"So you two have already done this test thing?"

"Yeah, except we did it against Gaby," Seth said.

"Right. Come on out, Sniper and Lucky!"

Kieran threw two Pokéballs into the air as he said that, and out came a Sneasel and an Absol.

"Alright, Red and Rocker! We lost before, so let's teach this kid a lesson!"  
  
Out came the familiar Charizard, and, to everyone's surprise, an Aerodactyl.

"What the...? Lily, where did you get an extinct Pokémon?" Seth said, gazing up at the ancient Pokémon.

"Pokémon Research Lab on Cinnabar Island. Stole it when n-one was looking."

"You stole it?!" Kip said.

"Duh! Do you think they'd just give it to her?" Gaby said.

"Who cares how I got it? Let's just see how I raised it! Use Ancientpower on the Absol!"

"Lucky, Defence and counter 3!"

The Aerodactyl used its attack, but missed as the Absol jumped aside just in time. Unfortunately for Kieran, the Ancientpower worked very well and its executor glow briefly as it powered up. The Absol, meanwhile, jumped around, dodging the attacks.

"Great job, Rocker! Now, Red, use Iron Tail on the Sneasel!" Lily commanded. Her Charizard obeyed, sending the Sneasel into the air.

"Perfect!" Kieran said. "Sniper, Alpha Formation 8 combined with Lucky's Attack Manoeuvre 9!"

The Sneasel jumped onto the Absol's back. The Absol bolted forward. Stopping suddenly in front of the Charizard, the Sneasel flew forward, claws extended.

"Flamethrower!!!" Lily yelled. The Charizard shot flame at the Sneasel, catching it when it was about to reach it. The Sneasel dodged it, but missed with its attack. Lily jumped onto Red's back.

"What's with the riding?" Kieran asked, looking at Lily.

"I don't know, I just like to be part of the battle."

"Cool. Too bad you weren't paying attention to your other Pokémon, though."

Lily gasped as she saw her Aerodactyl fighting against the Absol. The Absol was using a powered up Razor Wind. Dodging the lethal attack, Rocky darted across in the sky with amazing agility. But it wasn't enough. One of the gusts caught the Aerodactyl in the wing, tearing straight through the delicate membrane. The Pokémon landed, facing the Absol.

"Time to finish it off. Lucky, attack with Thunder!"

A bolt of thunder come down from the cloudy sky, striking the Aerodactyl. It collapsed. Lily returned it.

"Alright, fine. You wanna play rough? I'll play along! Red, let's do this! Attack full force!"  
  
The Charizard took off, zooming straight at the Absol. Caught off guard, the Absol panicked and bolted away. But the Charizard was faster. Grabbing the Absol, Lily and Red flew up, up until they disappeared. All watched the sky. Nothing. And then...

The Sneasel just had time to move out of the way before it was slammed down to earth from a height of 200 feet directly up. Then the Charizard appeared, grabbing the struggling Absol and throwing into the air. Whipping it's tail around, it slammed the Pokémon back into the ground, leaving it unconscious. Kieran stood dumb-struck as Lily landed.

"And now we have..."

"SNIPER!!! ATTACK FORMATION DELTA ONE!!!!!!!!"

The Sneasel ran forward and jumped up. Lashing out with its claws, it caught the Charizard in the chest, the sheer force sending it back ward. Red cried out in pain, but righted herself and lunged at the Sneasel. It darted out of the way and slashed again. This time its blow missed, and the Charizard, lead by Lily, opened its mouth and fired a powerful Fire Blast. It caught the Sneasel, and, finally defeated by a Super Effective blow, fainted.

"Yeah!! I knew you could do it!" Lily said, hugging Red's neck. The Charizard crooned affectionately.

"How...?!" Kieran said, returning his Sneasel. "How...?"

"Lot and lots of practice," Lily said, hopping off her Charizard. "But you were pretty good too. I mean, you took down Rocky, for a start, and actually got a hit on Red. And both of your Pokémon survived one beating from my girl here." She patted her Charizard, receiving a roar of agreement. "Not to mention that Mightyena. That's one of the toughest thing's I've faced!"

"Sure, but you gave me a thrashing as well," Kieran said. "Took down my Absol AND my Sneasel. Nobody's been able to take down my tag team before."

"Really? Cool!" Lily said. They shook hands.

"So Gaby, how did we do?" Lily asked her, turning to face Gaby.

"Not bad, not bad at all! I would ask for a battle against each of you myself, but I don't think I need to right now. You both get the highest marks I've ever given: 95!"

"95? What did I get?" Seth and Kip asked at the same time((anime sweatdrop from Gaby))

"Let's see...Seth, you got about 85...And Kip...Uh, well, you got somewhere around 70."

"What?! But I'm a great trainer!!!" Kip said. Seth snickered.

"I know! It was just at that time! I'm sure your much better then you are now!" Gaby said as Kip started the best counter: The cute pout.

"DAMN YOU KIP!!!!!!!!" Gaby said. "Why does that stupid pout always have to be so cute?!?!?! I know you're better."

"Yay!" Kip said. Gaby sighed.

"I think that's enough for today. Let's just rest for a while. Anybody know what time it is?"

"7:30 by my watch," Seth said.

"Right. Uh...Does anyone have any food? I'm all out..." Gaby said, looking through her bag.

"Uh...No..." Lily said. Seth pulled out a sad last store of some kind of crackers. So they shared the box, though they were all still considerably hungry afterwards.

Some of them decided to sleep to fight off the hunger. So Kip and Seth were soon snoring, and Lily was out of it at around 10. Gaby and Kieran were the only ones awake.

"You fight pretty well for a little guy," Gaby said.

"Feh. I'm not a little guy. True, I'm the youngest here, but I'm as good as any of you. I could probably even beat you if I wanted to."

"You wish."

"Is that a challenge?"

"BRING IT ON!!!"

Both stood up. Grabbing a Pokéball each, they threw them into the air. The others woke with a start and scrambled out of the way as a Tyranitar and a Dragonite appeared.

"ACK! You, give us more warning next time!!!!" Lily said as she was almost squished by the Tyranitar.

"Alright kid, you are so paying for that! Dragonsong, attack full force with Blizzard!!!!"

The Dragonite was suddenly surrounded by ice crystals and shot them at the Tyranitar. Hitting it directly, it toppled over.

"Iron tail!" Kieran yelled. The Tyranitar lashed out its tail from the ground, tripping the Dragonite.

"Dragonsong! Earthquake!!"

The Dragonite slammed its tail against the ground with such force that a tremor ran through the earth. Lily, Seth and Kip, who had already been frozen by the blizzard, were now being shook up. Even Kieran and Gaby were shaking from the sheer force. The Tyranitar was taking serious damage.

"Get up, Powerhouse!!!" Kieran said. The Tyranitar threw it's weight forward and landed up on its feet. The Dragonite also got up. "Alright, now use Hyper Beam!"

The Dragonite took the attack, blasted back, and opened its wings to stop the blow. Beating its wings furiously, it waited for the command.

"Nice one, Dragonsong! Now, finish it off! Outrage!!!!!"

Dragon-Type's most powerful attack was unleashed, and the Tyranitar was sent flying back. It had fainted

"Ahhh...!!!" Kieran said, running over to his Tyranitar. "You didn't look that strong...!"

"Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving. I just choose not to look powerful, that's all," Gaby said ((anime sweatdrops to all but Kieran)).

"Well, after you froze, scared, and burnt us..." Seth said. Gaby looked over to them. Sure enough, they were all frozen, bedraggled, and smoking slightly. "...I think we ought to get to sleep, don't you?"


	26. Ch26:Unauthorized Possession

_Gotta...get...away..._

_It's getting closer! I can't get away!! Someone, help!! Ahhh!!!!!!_

Gaby woke suddenly. Then she felt it again: A distant force, but threatening. She thought she was just imagining things, but then Kieran and Lily woke up at the same time.

"What the...?" Kieran said, looking around.

"What's happening?" Lily said sleepily. The sun hadn't risen yet.

"I...I don't know..." Gaby said. "You felt it too?"

"Yeah...But it's faint," Kieran said.

"Well, it's gone now. Let's get back to sleep," Gaby said. Kieran nodded, and instantly they were sound asleep. But Lily was restless, and it was a long time before she could sleep.

When the sun rose, everyone got up. Now they had to turn to more pressing business: What to do with Kieran?

"Well, I suppose it's your choice," Kip said.

"What's my choice?"

"If you want to come with us or not."

"WHOA! Hold on a second!" Gaby said. "Sure, he can tag along, but remember: I don't have an unlimited supply of food!"

"Oh yeah..."

"That's no problem for me!" Kieran said. They all looked at him. "You forget, I've been living in the wild for 7 years. If I recall, Gaby's only been out for 5, and I've been living on whatever I can get since I was 4!"

"But _you _forget that I've been on the streets for 13 years, and that I've survived on street smarts," Lily said.

"Really? Wow!"

"You trying living on the streets all your life and you'll learn how to put up with pain! Not to mention hunger!"

"Ok...So, best case scenario, Kieran and Lily get their own food...Somehow...What about the rest of us? I hate to say it, but Kip and I have live a luxury life almost our entire lives," Seth said.

"Well, I've managed food for 5 years, but that was only for me and my Pokémon. How are we gonna find food for 5 people and...31 Pokémon?!?!?!"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about our Pokémon..."

"Yeah, they're important too!"

"Right. So...How do we solve this one?"

"HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!?!?!"

"Well...I've got something for the meantime...But it can't be permanent!"

Everyone started at Seth. He reached into his bag and threw a Pokéball into the air. His Tropius came out.

"See those fruit? We can eat those," he said, indicating the fruit dangling from the Pokémon's neck. Miracle, can we have some?"

The Tropius nodded happily and bent its neck down. Seth pulled of some fruit.

"Here. There's only enough for the humans, I'm afraid."  
  
Everyone quickly ate the fruit...Except for Gaby. She took out one of her Pokéballs and opened it, releasing her Dragonite. Then she gave the fruit to it.

"Gaby, you're gonna stave to death! That's the second time in two days you've given your food away!"

"Your point? My Pokémon are more important then me."

There was a silence. Gaby got up and climbed on her Dragonite.

"Lily! Kieran! Come with me! Kieran, you got a flying Pokémon that you can ride?" Kieran shook his head. "Alright, come with me."

Kieran climbed onto the Dragonite behind Gaby. Lily took out her Charizard and jumped on.

"Wait!! Where are you going?"

"To check something out!"

That said, they took off, flying high until they were out of sight. Both boys just stood there, blinking.

Gaby, Kieran and Lily flew up, up into the sky. Lily rose above them, flying high. Breaking the first clouds, she stopped, looking at the clouds around her.

"What's up, Lily? You look like something bad happened," Kieran said.

"Damn...This is bad..." Lily said. Gaby and Kieran looked at each other, then at Lily.

"What are you talking about?" Gaby asked.

"Look at all the smog in the clouds..." Lily said, pointing ahead. They followed her finger and saw that dark smoke was coming towards them.

"What does it mean?"

"It means that Mount Chimney is going to blow, and everyone in the area is going to die."

"Well that's some cheerful news," Kieran said.

"What?! We have to save them!" Gaby said franticly.

"Calm down, Gaby! Look, I don't know how much time we have, but we better hurry. We're...Where are we?" Lily said.

"Let's go ask Kip. He's the one with the locator," Gaby said. They flew back down and landed by the ticked and confused boys.

"What was that about?" Seth said, standing up straight.

"Kip, give me your locator," Lily said.

"What?"

"NOW!!!!"

Kip hurriedly got out the locator and handed it over to Lily. She pressed some buttons on it. Her eyes widened.

"It could be worse. We're on the large island South-East of Mauville. It should only take...Oh, yeah, there are you people too..."

"Don't jip us on credit before we even know what you're talking about!" Seth said.

"Yeah, what's up?" Kip asked as Lily handed his locator back.

"Wait...I think I know..." Seth said. Lily looked at him, astounded.

"How could you know?"

"Let me guess: Mt. Chimney is going to blow her top?"

"Once again: How could you know?!"

"I know lots of things you wouldn't think I'd know. Mt. Chimney is giving warning signs."

"You're full of surprises, aren't you? Well, let's see if you can live up to your claims. Get your fastest flyer out and get ready, 'cause if you can't keep up with me, you're being left behind."

"That is a lot of information to take in so quickly," Kip said, blinking at the flow of information he had just received in about 1 minute. "So Chimney's blowing?"

"Yup! So let's go! Get your fastest flyer and get on!" Lily said, mounting her Charizard. Out of her bag she pulled out a pair of flying goggles and put them on.

"Nice look," Kieran said. Lily looked down at him.

"You'll see why I need them. Come on!"

She started to take off. Gaby returned her Dragonite and took out her Charizard. Jumping on, she pulled Kieran up with her. She also started to take off.

"Wait for us!!!" Seth said, grabbing a Pokéball. His Flygon appeared. He jumped on as well, just as Kip took out a Pokéball and threw it into the air. Out came Kip's Noctowl. He jumped on. Both boys took off.

"Ready?" Lily said, flashing an evil smile back at the rest.

"Ready!" Came the answer from all of them.

"Let's go!!!"  
  
Red took off at such speed that it looked like she had teleported. Only the _whoosh _of air told them that she had flown away.

Seth and Kip took off after her, disappearing at top speed. Kieran hugged tightly to Gaby's back. Gaby looked back at him.

"What, you don't like flying?"

"I'm just not used to takeoffs! Now just go!"

Gaby smiled reassuringly at him, then faced forward. Then Kieran felt the air rush past him. He squeezed tighter as they climbed in altitude. Then a huge rush almost pulled him off of Gaby as they flew forward.

"It's ok Kieran," Gaby said, reaching back and ruffling his hair. "We've caught up. But brace yourself. We need to get faster." Kieran nodded, shutting his eyes tighter.

The Charizard used Agility. Kieran and Gaby themselves felt themselves get lighter and quicker. Then the Charizard zoomed forward.

Kieran got the nerve to open his eyes. He spotted Seth and Kip flying alongside them.

"Hey Kieran!" Kip yelled over the rush of air. "Got used to Agility yet?"

"Hehe..." Kieran said.

"We're making great time!" Lily called. Only Kieran heard this.

"Where's Lily? I don't see her," Kieran said, looking around for her.

"Lily? She's a mile ahead. Why?"

"I just heard her..."

"Heard her...? Wait...Your ears..."

"Oh yeah! My hearing! It's loads better then anyone else's!"

"So? What'd she say?"

"She said we're making great time."

"Alright. Let's catch up!"

Gaby leaned forward on her Charizard. It gave a burst of speed forward. Seth and Kip flew along beside her.

"How much longer?!" Kieran said.

"About half an hour."

Suddenly Gaby started coughing. Her Charizard slowed down. Gaby continued having coughing fits.

"It's the ash," Kip said. "We need to get lower."

They all ducked down beneath the clouds. A thin grey smoke was coming from ahead of them. They saw Lily as a small orange dot far ahead of them.

Gaby was still coughing, but soon got over it. She pushed forward in an attempt to catch up to Lily. But the smoke was getting stronger, and Gaby was feeling light-headed. She passed out, falling off her Charizard.

"_Please! Someone! Help!!!"_

"Gaby!!!!!!" Kieran said. Sapphire dove down, trying to catch Gaby, but she righted herself, her eyes closed.

"Gaby? You ok?" Kip asked, flying down to her level. Her eyes opened halfway.

"Must...Go...Trapped...Afraid..." Gaby said. She floated off rapidly, passing Lily.

"What the...?" Lily said. She stopped and the rest caught up. "What's with Gaby?"

"I don't know, she just black out and fell off her Charizard," Kieran said, looking at the last place he had seen Gaby. "Then she started talking funny...What's up?"

"Let's follow her!" Lily said. They all flew forward, following Lily. They caught up to Gaby, who was slowing down. They stopped beside her.

"Gaby, what's..."

"East..." Gaby said in an emotionless tone. Then she zoomed off again, her body looking like a loose puppet. They all looked at each other before following.

They caught up to her again. They found they were right over the bubbling volcano. Gaby was simply floating over it, like a rag doll.

"_I can't control her anymore!"_

"What?"

"Hmm? We didn't say anything."

"But I just heard..."

"_I can't support her anymore! She's going to fall!"_

"It's telekinesis!" Seth said, looking at Kip's eyes. "From Gaby?"

"No, it's not her...It's someone else..."

"_Someone, help! Someone get her!!! Ahhh!!!"_

Kip realized what was happening just in time. He flew towards Gaby. A second later, she dropped from the air, her eyes closed, unconscious. Kip flew right under her, managing to grab her wrist before she fell into the lava.

But Kip's Noctowl was straining under the weight of two people, and was dropping lower and lower into the lava. Lily jumped off her Charizard and flew in mid-air with her own wings as the Pokémon took Kip with Gaby from the straining Noctowl.

They all flew back down to the ground, landing on a rocky shelf on the volcano. Kip set Gaby down gently. She opened her eyes, then began coughing up blood.

"Gaby!!" Kip said. "What happened? Are you ok?"

Gaby tried to answer but kept coughing more blood up. The Charizard whacked her on the back with its tail, making her cough up more blood, but made it cease all together.

"T-Thanks..." Gaby said, rubbing her head. "W-What happened?"

"We were going to ask you," Lily said.

"You went all limp and started flying towards the volcano....You said something..."

"Wait...Now I remember! I was possessed...But I didn't fight it...Why didn't I...?" Gaby said slowly. Then her eyes shot open. "Wait! That girl!! She was leading me here!!!"

"What girl?"

"That little girl...She possessed me and led me to here...But I don't think she wanted to harm me."

"That voice I heard! It said it couldn't hold you up anymore...It asked for help!" Kip said.

"I remember! Guys, there's a little girl trapped somewhere in this volcano...And I don't think she's alone!"

"There's many...There are a ton of them...At least 30, plus two...no, three adults," Kieran said slowly.

"How do you know that?!"

"I can sense them. Their fear...I can sense fear," Kieran said. "There are 32 people trapped inside this volcano, and they can't get out."

"That's not the worst part!" Lily said, sticking her finger in the thick ash and hot bubbly liquid oozing out from the volcano. "This thing's gonna blow in two hours, taking the people in and out of the volcano with it!"


	27. Ch27:Truth and Dare

Author's note: I have to put a disclaimer in this chapter. Why? Because the volcano idea came from a movie called Dante's Peak. Thanks and keep reading!

Also, please note that when I switch between people groups, I pick up at the same time I left off. Thanks for trying to understand that!

Signed,

Me

-------------------

"We've got to get those people out of there!" Seth said.

"I'm not sure if we have time! I told you, this volcano's gonna blow, and pretty quick, too!" Lily said. Gaby looked deep in concentration.

"I'm not sure if this will work...And it's a bit risky..." She said.

"What?"

"Well, I might have a way to get two of us in the volcano, but getting out would be up to them."

"How?"

"Teleportation. It's one of the most difficult psychic things possible, so I'm not sure I can...I've only done it once before."

"You think you can take two of us in here?"

"Well, the risks are very high...For one, I might not even be able to complete the teleport, and we'd get stuck between dimensions. Or, I could guess wrong and teleport straight into rock and kill whoever's been transported...Or miss the volcano all together. But if I could get two people inside, it would save a lot of time trying to get in."

"High risks? That's what I live for!" Kieran said. Gaby shook her head.

"Sorry Kieran, but I can't teleport you. You're a dark-type, remember?"

"Damn."

"I'll go..." Lily said. "I'm not afraid, and I know volcanoes the best out of anyone here. And besides, I've got a strong heat resistance, remember?"

"You're on the team. And I'm going in too," Gaby said.

"Right. So that leaves me, Kieran and Seth to go get the people of Lavaridge out of the Volcano's grasp, right?" Kip said.

"What makes you so sure you're going down there?" Gaby said.

"You won't have time to get the people out of the volcano AND the town to safety!"

"Good point. Just be careful."

"And what makes you so sure I'm going to do that?" Kip said, smiling. Then he jumped back onto his Noctowl and started flying down, Seth and Kieran behind him.

"Well, let's go!" Lily said. She took off, flapping her wings. Gaby levitated after her.

Meanwhile, the three boys were flying down Mt. Chimney. They saw the poor town, and people were already gathering outside, looking at the volcano. They landed in the midst of all the people.

"Why are you comin' here now?" One man asked the three as they dismounted from their Pokémon.

"That volcano's going to blow in an hour, and if you don't get out here now, it'll take you down with it!" Seth said, shouting so that everyone could hear him. Scared and shocked murmurs were heard through the crowd.

"And why should we be believin' you?" Said the man again. "You're just kids, and....AHHH!" The man shouted as he spotted Kieran. "What...What is that thing?"

"What, me?" Kieran said. Everyone backed away. "Yo, I'm not gonna hurt you or anything!"

"I don't think these guys are trustworthy!" Said the man.

"I do! Kid, say it from your own mouth! Say it!" One woman said, pointing at Kieran. He blinked.

"Uh...Ok...This Volcano's gonna blow in an hour, and you'll probably all be killed if you don't get out of here fast."

"I believe them!" Said the woman. "He's a Pokémorph, that one! It's said that it's hard for them to lie, and this one's showing no strain!" More murmurs greeted this. Kieran blinked again.

"Really? Are you guys serious? But how can you know?" Said a girl who looked to be around 12 or 13.

"Listen, we've got two friends up in the mountain, trying to rescue some people trapped in there. They told us. We believe them."

"People? Up there?" Said one young man. "Wait...The kids!! That class that went on a field trip! They're trapped!"

"We have to help them!" Yet another person said, trying to run off. Kip stopped her.

"No! If you go up there, you'll never come back alive! You have to trust our friends!" Kip said, straining to hold back the woman.

"But...They'll never get back either!" She said. "They're just as human as we are!"

"No, they're not! They're Pokémorphs too! Now trust us, pack your important stuff, and let's move out!"

Some people immediately ran to their homes to get their stuff, while others stared at the mountains, tears welling in their eyes at the thought of what might or would happen to their kids. Eventually, everyone was ready, though a few of them remained unconvinced and would not leave.

"I still don't believe it!" Said the man. He stopped his little kid, who looked about three, from running out the door to her mother. She screamed. "It's ok! Mommy's gonna come back!" She struggled harder, but the man wouldn't let her go. That set Seth off.

"Listen you!" Seth said, walking up to him. Kieran and Kip both tried to stop him, but he just walked through their attempts right to the man. "If you don't get out of this town, you and your kid are going to die. Understand?!"

"Daddy, I'm scared!" Said the little girl, hugging against her father's leg and looking up at Seth.

"Now you stop scaring my daughter, you hear me?" Said the man, trying to confront Seth. This did not work very well because Seth was at least 3 inches taller then him.

"Idiot! Will it kill you to just go?!" Seth said.

"He's right daddy!" Said the little girl. "What's so bad about taking a little walk with Mommy and all the other nice people?"

The man glared at Seth, then grabbed a bag. He went inside and returned a few minutes later, the bag full. Then he walked past Seth and into the crowd of other people.

"Seth...I've never seen you do something like that before," Kip said, staring at Seth. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Who cares?" Seth said. _From my father, that's where!_ "Let's get these people out of here. There's only an hour and 45 minutes left. Hear that everyone? Let's move!"

And so, led by Seth, the people took refuge on higher ground. The managed to find a place with a great view of the volcano, but not too close.

_Lily...Gaby..._Kip thought, _Please get those people out of there!_

---------------------------------

Gaby and Lily flew around the volcano, looking for landing spot. They finally found a good one, near the middle. They landed.

"Lily, I have to warn you: I can get us in, but I won't have any energy left inside to use any form of Psychic power, meaning I can't get us out the same way we get in."

"That changes things...Well, all we can do is try!"

"Ready? It's going to feel really, really weird, so brace yourself!"

"Nothing I can't handle!"

"Ok...Ready...Set...GO!"

Instantly Lily felt a strange, cold floating sensation, as if she was in space. She felt weightless, and couldn't move her body. But though she couldn't move, she could tell she was moving. She was alone, however. In fact, there was nothing around her at all. Then it stopped, and she was on the ground, standing next to Gaby. It had gotten much, much hotter, a jump about 20 degrees. Gaby collapsed.

"You ok?" Lily said, bending down to help her up. Gaby nodded.

"It's just...Really...Really...Tiring," Gaby said, panting. Lily smiled and helped her up. "Well, good news is, we aren't dead. Lily, I have to rely on you now. I've never been in a real volcano before, only the underwater ones."

"Right. I've been in my share of volcanoes in my life, about...What, 10? 20?"

"Great."

"So...How do we find the kids?"

"Absolutely no idea," Gaby said. Lily cupped her hands to her mouth.

"YO!!!!! ANYONE ALIVE?!?!?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Lily yelled, blasting Gaby's eardrums. Then, there was a faint, but distinct cry.

"Help! Is there someone there?"

"YEAH! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"We're caved in! Follow my voice!"

Then there was a loud yell. Lily, thanks to being a Pokémorph, had a better hearing and flew off towards the yell. Gaby tried to levitate, but couldn't.

"What the-?" Gaby said, trying again. She could barely hover two inches above the ground. "Guess I'll have to ride...Go, Sapphire...Wait, Kieran has her...Alright, Go! Dragonsong!"

The Dragonite appeared, then stared at Gaby, as if asking why in all the hells were they in a volcano that was about to erupt.

"Sorry...Just follow Lily! There are some kids trapped here, and-"

Gaby was cut off because when the Dragonite hear the word 'kids', it threw Gaby into the air, made her land on its back, and zoomed away after Lily. They caught up quickly.

"Can you still follow the sound?" Gaby asked, drawing level with her.

"Yeah, and it's getting louder," She said. Then she cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled, "YELL AGAIN! WE'RE GETTING CLOSE!"

"Hurry! Over here!"

It did sound a lot closer. They zoomed around. Finally, they turned a corner and found a group of terrified sixth graders standing there...And lying there. They landed, making some of the kids back away in fear as the teacher (The parent volunteer was on the ground) stepped in front of them protectively. Then she gasped as she saw them.

"P-Pokémorphs!!" The teacher exclaimed happily (much to the surprise of Lily and Gaby). "I can't believe it! We're saved!"

"Uh...Quick question..." Lily said, staring at the teacher. "Why don't you, like, hate us or fear us or anything? Just wondering."

"Hate them? Pokémorphs are saviours! They help people, not hurt them!" Said the teacher. Both Gaby and Lily blinked. "What?"

"You're the first."

"Am I really?"

"No joke. Anyway, we have come to get you out of here," Gaby said. "What's wrong with them?" She said, pointing to the people laying on the ground.

"The toxic fumes are attack some of the sick and less-resilient ones. They'll be alright, but if they're in here too much longer, they'll die."

"I have to know something first," Gaby said. "Who telepathically contacted me?"

"I did," Said a little girl, stepping out from behind the teacher. "My name's Tami. I'm telekinetic, and I hoped I could contact someone. I'm sorry about loosing control like that..."

"No problem," Gaby said. She was a tough girl, smaller for her age. "I'm just surprised you could use your telekinetic powers inside here."

"You feel it too?" The girl said. "There's a mineral in here...I don't know what it is, but it disables psychic power greatly."

Gaby's eyes widened. The devices the Team used...Was it made of this mineral? It made sense, but the fact that it was here could cause problems.

"You're both Pokémon trainers I presume?" Said the teacher, looking at the Dragonite respectively. "I'm one too, but I don't think they'll be..."

"What do you have? Flying types?" Lily said immediately.

"Uh...Miss..." Said a boy, stepping out from the crowd as well and addressing Lily. "But I'm one too, and I've got two flyers."

"You are awesome. What do you have?" Lily said. The boy took out too Pokéballs and released a Crobat and a Dodrio. Lily smiled.

"Great. Anything else people can ride on?"

The boy pulled out another Pokéball, releasing a Girafarig.

"Perfect! Now, you've got...32, right?"

"Yes."

"Load your Dodrio up with two unconscious people, and two on your Crobat. Get one on your Girafarig. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" Said the boy. With a couple other people's help, they slumped the unconscious people on the Pokémon quickly. Then they all turned back to Lily for instructions.

"Well...4 people, get on that Dragonite," Gaby said, pointing to the Dragon. Lily pulled out a Pokéball, releasing her Salamence.

"Right. 5 of you on him," She ordered. Now there were only16 people standing.

"Now, RUN!!" Lily said, taking off and flying forward. The people on Pokémon followed, with Gaby staying behind to lead the rest.

_Kip...Seth...Kieran..._Gaby thought, _Please...Please have gotten the others safe!_

And so the race against the clock began.


	28. Ch28:Race Against the Clock

Author's note: Just to let you know...The beginning is set later for the boys then for the girls. Basically, the girls pick up where they left off, while the guys, since they weren't really exciting, start later. You'll understand! JUST READ!

Also, Pokémon speak in English, since only a few special people can speak Pokémon. So, don't be alarmed when a Charizard starts talking, ok? Plus, since their speaking English...I'm writing that now, and it sounds really weird...So I'm trying to make it sound better by using their nicknames. This will probably be the only time where you can really get a sense of each Pokémon's personality. Listen up!

Signed,

Me

-----------------

Seth and Kip were sitting back behind the rest, both frantic with worry about the girls. Kieran went back up to them after playing, though not his first choice, dolls with some 4 year olds.

"What are you guys so worried about?" Kieran said, noticing the looks of worry on both boy's faces.

"We're not worried!!" They both said at the same time, trying to cover up their expressions. Kieran smiled evilly.

"Someone's got the hots for a couple of girls," Kieran said slyly.

"No!" Both boys said, their voices cracking. Kieran burst out laughing.

"I knew it!" Kieran cheered. "So...Who's got who?"

"NEITHER HAVE EITHER!" They both said, once again their voices cracking in unison. This only made Kieran laugh harder, causing him to roll around on the ground in laughter. Both boys turned very bright shades of red, because now everyone was staring at them.

And just then, a humungous tremor ran through from the volcano, throwing everyone off their feet.

--------------------------------------

"Come on! Hurry! We've only got an hour and a half left!"

They were still running, trying desperately to escape from the maze that was Mt. Chimney. Left...Right...It didn't matter. They always hit solid rock. Many times they tried to break through, but nothing worked against the super-hot walls of stone around them. Some of the kids were starting to cry, while others were just really quiet. But a few, including the boy and Tami, along with some others, were being mature and trying to help the others calm down and were leading the pack, running alongside Lily and Gaby.

"How...Much...Further...?" The boy panted.

"I'm not sure...All we can do is hope to find a way out soon..." Lily said.

But back at the end of the line, a serious development was occurring. Gaby had been ok so far, but the toxic fumes were getting to her, and it was getting serious. She was coughing loudly, spitting up blood every now and then.

"You ok?" Tami asked, running up beside Gaby.

"No...I'm not ok...Get Lily..." Gaby sputtered. Tami nodded and bolted ahead, trying to catch the Pokémon-mounted crew.

"HEY!!!!" She yelled, trying to get her attention. "Your friend's in trouble!!!" Lily stopped, then turned to the boy.

"Lead them on. I've got to help my friend."

"Right."

The boy led the rest of them ahead as Lily doubled back. Tami was now kneeling beside Gaby, who was breathing heavily and coughing. Lily landed and kneeled on her other side.

"Gaby! What's wrong?"

"Damn...Fumes..." Gaby said. She coughed again. "Hard...To breath..."

"You're gonna be ok!" Lily said. Thinking fast, she undid Gaby's bandana. Taking it off revealed that her hair underneath was a brilliant white. The rest of her hair was covered in soot.

Lily then tied the bandana around Gaby's mouth, acting as a filter. Gaby kept coughing, but she could breath now.

"Thanks," Gaby said. Lily helped her up. Then...

"HEY!!!!!! I FOUND AN EXIT!!!!"

The yell echoed through the volcano. Everyone bolted to where the voice had came from. Sure enough, there was a bright opening to the outside. The Pokémon riders were already outside.

"Yay!!!!!" Everyone yelled. They all jumped happily out of the volcano, happy to see the sky again...Or not. The whole sky was dark, covered in dark fumes coming from the volcano. Still...It was great to be outside.

"Ok! Role call!" Said the teacher. She counted everyone up, but gasped when she reached the last person. She counted again, and then one more time.

"Oh no! There's someone missing!" She said. Gaby and Lily looked at each other.

"Just one?"

"Yes, but you'll never make it!"

"Just try us!" Gaby said. "Dragonsong, start taking kids down the mountain. Hurry! Try to find the others!" The Dragonite looked at her worriedly. "GO!!!"

"You too Arrow! Get going!" Lily said to her Salamence. But both Pokémon would not budge.

"NOW!!!"

The Pokémon, against their will, left their masters. They flew down the mountain, each Pokémon carrying 6 or 7 kids each. Lily and Gaby turned to each other.

"Let's go."

They ran inside. Tami spotted them and tried to follow, but the teacher stopped her.

"No Tami! You can't follow them!"

"But they'll be killed!"

"There's nothing we can do! And it's Kyo's only hope!"

Gaby and Lily ran through the volcano, calling all the way. But no answer was heard.

"We'll never find him...or her...It!" Lily said, yelling some more. "If it's unconscious, it can answer, right?"

"We just have to hope!" Gaby said. "If I only had my powers...I could sense where it was!"

They kept running, calling to no avail. Then....

"Help!! Someone, help!"

The voice of a boy rang through the volcano. Unfortunately, it came from all directions, making it impossible to find the source.

"Hey!!" Lily yelled. "We're here! Stay calm and tell us where you are!"

"I fell through the ground, I'm in a cave somewhere on the trail!" Came the answering voice. "Please, it's starting to cave in! Help!"

"Hole in the floor...That gap!" Gaby said. She started running back, and, making a left turn and running for a little more, found a large hole in the ground that was extremely deep. Lily caught up with her.

"You may have good hearing, Lily," Gaby said, staring down into the hole and focusing her vision. "But my eyesight's a lot better then yours!"

"You found me?" Came the voice from inside the hole. "Great! Can you get me out?"

"Coming!" Gaby said. Then she jumped down into the whole. Lily couldn't see a thing.

Then Gaby reappeared, a boy in her arms. She set him down, just as the volcano gave a tremendous tremor and shook everyone, even the ones sitting miles away on the hill.

"We'd better get out of here...There's less then an hour left," Lily said. They nodded and started running.

Time was ticking. Many more tremors hit them, some barely felt, others throwing them to the ground. Eventually, they reached the exit tunnel. The Dragonite and the Salamence were waiting, and all the people were gone.

"Great job, Dragonsong!" Gaby said, spotting the Pokémon before everyone else. "Now..."

But Gaby never finished that sentence. For at that moment, a full-scale earthquake occurred, throwing them all into each other. And to everyone's horror, a resounding crack was heard, and at the entrance, a cave-in was happening.

This was their only way out! They tried to get up, but were shook down again. Gaby, fighting the restraint, grabbed the boy, levitated up with all her might, and floated forward just enough to throw him out the exit and onto her Dragonite. Then, all the lights went out.

-------------------------------

"Whoa! Do you feel that?" Seth said, grabbing onto the rock he had been sitting on for support as a tremor went through the ground.

"Yeah! What the hell is going on?" Kieran said, grabbing onto Seth since he hadn't claimed a rock (Kip had stolen the other one). Then is stopped.

"The girls...I have a bad feeling about this..." Kip said. "It's like...It's like Gaby's not there anymore...No Telekinetic energy at all."

"That can't be good..." Seth said, looking at the mountain. Just then, a crowd of about 30 people came running up from the hill.

"You made it!" Seth said, standing up. Before anyone could move, however, Tami ran forward and nearly jumped on Seth.

"Go back to that volcano!" She yelled. Seth stared at her.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Your friends...They've gone back into the volcano! Someone got lost, and..."

But she was cut off as a Salamence and a Dragonite landed right in front of them, scattering the people. They were in hysterics, and a boy was on his back.

"Kyo! You made it!" The teacher said, getting the boy off the Dragonite's back. But the boy pointed to the Pokémon, who was trying wildly to get their attention.

"What?" Tami said suddenly, her eyes glowing orange around the edges. "Gaby and Lily are trapped in the mountain from a cave in...Volcano about to blow in half an hour...Help them..."

"Telepathy!" Seth said. "Gaby's one hell of a trainer if she can teach a Dragonite...Wait, trapped?!" He realized mid-sentence what the girl was saying. "ACK!" He had a thought of Lily in pain and trapped in a cave, alone.

"T-Trapped?" Kip said franticly, imagining Gaby trapped all alone in a dark cave.

"NO!!!" Both boys said at the same time.

"This can't be good..." Kieran said.

"Please...You have to get up there and help them..." Said the boy, looking up at Seth. Seth nodded.

"Right. Let's go. Everyone! Just stay calm, cover your mouths with a cloth or something, and you'll be fine!"

Seth jumped back on his Flygon, just as Kip and Kieran mounted their Pokémon. Then they took off, flying towards the mountain.

----------------------------

"What...What happened? Lily? You there?" Gaby said, sitting up. It was almost pitch dark, but the little light that was glowing from the walls reflected in her eyes (Like a cat's), she could see the cave normally. And she saw Lily stirring in a corner of the cave.

"Lily? You ok?" Gaby said, going over to her. Lily sat up, rubbing her head.

"Where are we? I can't see!" Lily said.

"It's ok, it's just the dark. I cave no idea where we are."

"The cave in...We must be somewhere near the entrance. If I can see, I can tell us where we are...Go, Re-...My Pokéballs!!!!"

Sure enough, Lily's Pokéballs were gone, as well as Gaby's. Gaby looked around, and found two. They released their Pokémon, and found that Lily had her Xatu and Gaby had Pidgeot.

"Where are the rest...?" Lily said. Gaby looked around again, but there were not Pokéballs inside the tiny cave. When she pushed against the opening to look for more, it wouldn't budge.

"Uh...Lily...We've got a bit of a problem..." Gaby said, pushing harder against the rock.

"Don't tell me...Blocked in?"

"Yup. And I can tell you this: I have no idea how we got here, but we are no where NEAR the entrance. And at this rate, our Pokémon are probably too far to call. And without my Psychic powers, we're in serious trouble."

"Yes, this is a bad thing. And...Damn, PsyFly's attacks won't work in here either! If all Psychic activity is down..."

"And my Pidgeot...Well, Trouble might be able to something off...But not enough to get us out of-"

Gaby cut off suddenly in a coughing fit. Lily, using her tail as a torch, could see that the bandana was so covered in soot, it was just going into her mouth and not stopping it at all.

"This is not good...Gaby, if you're sensitive to this stuff, you'll be unconscious soon, and dead not long after that...But that's not the biggest problem. I'd say it's a safe bet we were out for about 8 minutes, and..."

"There's...Only about...22 minutes left, then..." Gaby said, coughing though the sentence.

"Right...We've got to get out of here..."

"Let's...Just hope...Dragonsong...Got the message..." Gaby said. Lily looked at her. Gaby smiled, then coughed again. "I told...Dragonsong...To relay the message...To Tami...To give to the others..."

"Gaby, we may get out of here yet!" Lily said, standing up. She used her tail as a torch, surveyed the wall of rock, and gave a small smile. "Let's GO!"

-----------------------

In another part of the volcano, 7 Pokéballs laid. They all opened at the same time, releasing a Meganium, a Skarmory, a Lugia, a Swellow, a Murkrow, a Aerodactyl, and a Charizard. Fortunately, it was a large enough cave to hold all of them comfortably. They looked at each other, and could see, thanks to the light reflecting off the Lugia and the Skarmory, plus the flame burning on the Charizard.

"What...What happened?" Slicksilver said, looking around the room.

"All I remember is being really shook up..." Said the Murkrow.

"Then we all just came out here..." Said the Swellow.

"What are you?" Said all of Gaby's Pokémon unanimously at the sight of the strange flying Pokémon.

"I'm a Swellow. And most of you are unfamiliar too...And none of us know each other's names."

"Well...I'm Slicksilver," Said the Skarmory.

"I'm Affection," Said the Meganium.

"Name's Silversong," Said the Lugia.

"Well, I'm Rocker," Said the Aerodactyl.

"BraveWing," Said the Swellow.

"My name's Darkbeak," Said the Murkrow.

"And I'm Red," Said the Charizard.

"Well, now that we're all introduced...Wait, where's Dragonsong? And Trouble? And Sapphire?!" Affection said suddenly.

"And PsyFly and Arrow are missing as well!" Rocker said.

"That kid Kieran's got Sapphire...And Gaby let the kids borrow Dragonsong...But Trouble should be here..." Silversong said.

"That's right, Arrow was helping that Dragonite...Dragonsong, as you called him. But PsyFly was in a Ball too," Red said.

"And they're not here...I'd sense something..." Silversong said. "And It's so hard to use my Psychic powers here...It's like there's a barrier..."

"Right now, I think we should be more worried about our masters then anything else!" Affection said.

"Right. Where could they be?" Darkbeak said.

"Wait...Lily taught us this trick a while ago..." Red said. "If we all concentrate, maybe we can read our master's energy!"

"Right. Let's give it a try!"

Gaby's Pokémon huddle together, concentrating hard on their master's resounding and powerful energy, while Lily's Pokémon concentrated on Lily's fiery attitude. Lily's four instantly felt a strong will, and saw a picture of their master preparing to use an attack.

Gaby's three felt a very weak presence, extremely sick, and only Silversong had felt this before, and that had been when he had found her.

"They're trapped!"

"And Gaby's in bad shape!"

"We have to find them, and quick! Otherwise, Gaby will die!"


	29. Ch29:Trapped? Or Escape?

Author's note: MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ROCK!!!!!!! The thrills, chills, and excitement to come in this chapter...GET READY FOR ONE EXPLOSIVE event!

Brace yourself, this could get HOT!

By the way, happyham, Seth is not a Mewtwo morph because and injection was made and it stopped the dna development for Pokémorph material, therefore stopping that section of the dna growth. That is why Seth is not a Pokémorph. Thanks for asking!

Ignoring my bad jokes...Read on, my faithful band of reviewers!

Loving from (A sibling love)

Me

------------------

Kip, Seth and Kieran flew around the volcano, searching for an entrance. Beside them, Dragonsong and Arrow flew, both extremely concerned about their masters.

"Do you think they're ok?" Kip said. Seth looked worried, and, to his surprise, so did the ever-confident Kieran. _If Kieran's concerned, things can't be good..._

"I can't see an entrance anywhere!" Kieran said, frustrated. "How much longer until this thing blows?"

"Judging by the high emissions of ash and toxic fumes, along with the tremors...I'd say...20-25 minutes? At best."

"That can't be good."

"No, it's not."

"There's not enough time..." Kieran said suddenly. Kip looked over at him.

"Of course there is!"

"No, there's not. If we don't find them really, _really _soon, there won't be enough time to get out of here!"

"He's right..." Seth said, flying down. "And we've circled this thing 10 times and haven't found a singe entrance. And if the girls aren't in a state to move..."

"..."

"Yeah."

They kept flying, the hope in them almost gone. Kip, as hard as he tried, could not sense any energy from Gaby whatsoever. That meant...

-------------------------

"IRON TAIL!" Lily shouted. Her tail turned a silvery colour. Then she whacked the rocks as hard as she could. But with all her efforts, they barely move at all.

"That wall...Is about...Ten feet thick," Gaby said, taking small breaths in an attempt to not inhale any more hot ash.

"It's no use! With only these too Pokémon and no Psychic powers, there's no chance of getting out of here!" Lily said, sitting down beside Gaby, who was coughing again.

The Pidgeot gave a sudden shrill cry. They all turned to see the Pidgeot flapping its wings wildly trying to get their attention. To their horror, bubbling liquid was seeping through the cracks in the rock. Lava.

"Shit!" Lily said. "Gaby, return your Pidgeot," She said as she returned her own Pokémon. "That's Lava. And it means were trapped in a Lava flow area."

"And that means...?" Gaby said, returning her Pokémon. The ash was making her very light-headed.

"That means that outside our cave, Lava flows up freely. This is a little indent in the wall..."

"So Lava's rushing 10 feet away from us?" Gaby said, backing away from the wall of rock.

"Yeah."

"Shit."

"That's what I said. Now, I can withstand Lava to an extent, but you..."

"I have no resistance to heat...Or ash," Gaby said, coughing up some blood-covered ashes. She was sweating, and very, very pale.

"Oh Gaby...You're not going to stay conscious much longer..." Lily said, climbing to higher ground as a sliver of a drip of molten rock crawled slowly towards her. "I don't know how much you can take..."

---------------------

"We have to get out of here and help them!" BraveWing said.

"Wherever 'here' is," Blackbeak said.

"Well, let's break down these rocks!" Slicksilver said, facing the mountains wall of fallen rock that blocked their exit.

"Right. It looks thick...Let's all attack it at once," Red said. They all got ready.

"Ready...GO!"

Each Pokémon used one of their special attacks on the wall: Steel Wing, Razor Leaf, Hydro Pump (I know Lugia aren't water types, but I think they should be!), Rock Throw, Arial Ace, Faint Attack, and Flamethrower. The combined attacks blew the rocks into pieces, clearing the way.

"Yeah! Alright!" Affection said.

"Now let's go find our masters!" BraveWing said.

They all flew or ran out. Gaby's 3 were following Lily's, because Gaby's life signal was so weak, they couldn't detect it like Lily's could for their master.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Slicksilver said.

"I've been with Lily ever since I hatched," Red said. "I know her energy signal anywhere."

"And Gaby's with Lily, right?" Silversong said, flying up beside Red.

"I think so, but I could be wrong."

"Let's hope she is..."

-----------------

Meanwhile, the boys were still circling the volcano when they found a small entrance. Excitedly, they landed on the ledge beside it.

"Finally! I thought we'd never find an entrance!" Seth said.

"Geez it's hot out here!" Kieran said.

"We're on a volcano! What did you expect?!" Kip said.

"Oh...Right..."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get in!"

They jumped across the ledge, and slipped inside the volcano. The first thing they noticed was that it was _extremely_ hot. Kieran choked on the hot air and ash that came into his face as he entered.

"Man it's hot in here!!!" Kieran said, fanning himself with his hand. He looked back and saw the Pokémon hovering outside, unable to follow them in.

"Stay there until we come back!" Seth said to them. The nodded and disappeared from sight. Then Seth turned back to the others. "Alright. Let's try to find them. Any idea on where to start?"

"Well...Normally..." Kip said, but cut off.

"What?"

"Well, I usually get some kind of emission from Gaby...But I can't sense anything."

"So...She's..."

"It's probably just me!" Kip said. But he himself was thinking the same thing. _Gaby was probably dead by now...But he couldn't just give up!_

"Let's go!" Kieran said. He started running off down a path, Seth and Kip following him.

-----------------------

"We'll never get out of here alive!" Gaby said. She was getting weaker, and was coughing more blood. She had coughed so much out, she was getting fainter and fainter. To top it off, the lava was slowly filling up the room. Now only small parts of the floor remained uncovered. To most it wouldn't see like such a serious thing, but with 15 minutes to go, Lily knew that when Mt. Chimney blew, the wall would break more and send lava gushing out to the. And depending on how much they took in before...

"Stop thinking that!" Lily said. But she herself was thinking that maybe she was right. To Lily, lava was like water to her, but to Gaby...

"Lily, let's face it! We're dead!" Gaby said, spiting blood.

"We can make it through this!" Lily said. Gaby coughed violently, falling over into the small pool of Lava. Lily caught her before she hit it.

"Stay with me Gaby!!" Lily said, laying Gaby down on a large rock above the lava. "Stay conscious! Keep talking!"

"T-Talking...Ok..." Gaby said, opening her eyes halfway. "What should I say?"

"Tell me...Tell me anything! Just keep talking!" Lily said.

"Everything's getting darker..." Gaby said suddenly. Her eyes were now wide open, and starting to fade away into white. "I can barely see..."

"Gaby, you have to stay with me here!" Lily said, close to tears. "Come on!"

"I'm sorry Lily..." Gaby said, managing a small smile. "I don't think I can..."

"Gaby!!!!!" Lily said. Gaby's eyes were almost completely white. She was unconscious.

"Great..." Lily said. Just then, a violent tremor hit them. "This thing's going to blow sooner then I thought...In about 5 minutes or so..."

Just then, the wall of rock burst through.

-------------------------

"I found them!!!" Darkbeak said, flying over to a wall of fallen rock. Below them, Lava was flowing freely. Affection was piggybacking on Silversong.

"Alright!" Slicksilver said. Silversong nodded, then looked like something terrible had happened.

"What's wrong?" Affection asked as she felt the Lugia stiffen.

"Gaby's dying!" Silversong said. "We have to get her out of this volcano now!"

"Right. Full power attack!" Red said. They all sent their best attack at the wall, blasting it into tiny pieces. And there, sitting on a rock, trying to escape the rising Lava were Lily and Gaby. Lily looked up, surprised but ecstatic.

"Guys! You're alive!!" Lily said. They all responded happily, but Gaby's Pokémon let out a worried cry as they saw their friend.

"Gaby's in trouble, and she'll only get worse if she stays in here. Do you know a way out?" Lily said, flapping her sings and landing in riding position on Red with Gaby in front of her. The Charizard shook its head. "Right. Let's get out of here! If we can't find an exit...We'll make one!"

--------------------------

"I can hardly breath!" Kieran said, coughing.

"That goes for all of us!" Kip said, trying to cover his mouth. Then the ground gave a very violent shake, knocking them all over.

"This thing is going to blow...Very, very soon," Seth said.

"I hate to admit it, but we have to get out of here," Kieran said, turning back.

"NO! We're not abandoning them!" Kip said. Seth shook his head in agreement. Kieran turned his head solemnly back.

"Look, if we're choking badly in here and we've only been in this stuff for 10 minute, think how they've been for almost two hours! Admit it, they're probably already dead. And if that didn't kill them, the lava did." Seth and Kip went silent as the truth hit them. They were too late. "Let's go. Normally I would try to find the bodies or something, but they're probably melted by now."

So they bolted off back the way they came, all three feeling like they had failed them. And it was a good thing they jumped out of the cave at the exact time they did, because the opening caved in behind them just as they jumped out.

Then they all flew back to where the rest were gathered. They ignored them all as they questioned what had happened.

-----------------------

"Three...Two...One...NOW!" Lily commanded. All the Pokémon used their attacks at the edge of the volcano. Nothing.

"Again! Three...Two...One...NOW!" Still, nothing. The Pokémon looked defeated.

"How are we going to break through this thing?! We've given it all we've got!" Lily said. She was getting really worried about Gaby. If they didn't get out of there soon, Gaby would...

"We have to keep trying!" Lily said. "Again!"

They all tried their hardest, attacking the wall full force. They managed to break a small hole in it this time, but only small enough for BraveWing to fit through, at best.

"BraveWing! Get out!" Lily commanded. BraveWing did not budge. "NOW!!!! At least I can save something!" The Swellow darted through the hole.

"Alright, now again!" Lily said. The hole opened bigger. Now Darkbeak was out.

"One last time! Do it for Gaby!"

THAT set off the three. They alone opened the whole another three feet in all directions, but with the others, it was large enough for all but the Lugia and Charizard to fit through. And just as the remaining two readied their final blast...  
  
The volcano finally released its built up energy. The volcano blew its top.


	30. Ch30: Terrors and Trials

"That's it..." Seth said, his voice cracking as he saw the volcano explode. "It's over..."

"We c-couldn't do it!" Kieran said, his voice breaking. Kip just remained quiet.

"What's that flying over by the volcano?" Said one little girl, pointing at some dots flying beside the volcano.

"Just rocks and stuff, honey!" The girl's mother said. The girl shook her head.

"No mommy, they're Pokémon!" The girl said, pointing to the shapes again. All three boys jumped up and ran to the front of the crowd. Sure enough, 8 shapes were flying at high speed towards them. They almost jumped for joy at the sight of them....Actually, Kieran DID jump for joy, hopping up and down like a maniac.

But the celebrations were soon over. As the mountain threw it's contents into the air, ash and molten rock flew at them. Everyone watched as the little dots darted this way and that, trying to escape the mountain's fury. Suddenly, 7 of the shapes disappeared, leaving one of the larger ones to battle the mountain.

"We have to get out there and help them!" Kieran said, not waiting for the others and jumping onto the Charizard as it took off. "Come on!"

The other two followed, jumping their steeds. They flew at top speed towards the others.

-----------------

Lily flew through the ash and rocks, dodging the magma and large chunks that flew out at her from the mountain. They were doing alright....But she couldn't see in front of her at all.

"This won't work for long, but..." Lily said. "Red! Let's break through this stuff!! FIRE BLAST!!!"

Both Lily and Red shot flame, cutting a hole in the dense wall in front of them. They weren't that far now...

They shot forward, racing, trying to keep up with the disappearing fire. But they should have been more cautious. A huge chunk of molten rock came down on them, and Red saw too late. The giant rock came down on him, tearing straight through his right wing. He let out a cry of pain as he plummeted through the ash, as Lily and Gaby were sent flying off his back and straight into another rock. Lily flipped Gaby around to in front of her, taking the blow herself and breaking her left wing and leg.

They fell after Red, hitting the ash. Lily could not stop Gaby from being hit by all sorts of junk, cutting her and burning her to the degree where she would have died instantly if she had been human. Lily wasn't doing to well either, suffering the same fate. And the ground was getting close...Wait, not ground...Lava!

Red had managed to fall on a rock some feet above the lava, but Lily and Gaby weren't going to get that lucky. The fell, and just as their lives were about to end...

They landed on something. Lily was aware that she was flying...Away from the lava...Sitting on a Pokémon. She realized it was a Flygon instantly. She turned her head to see that someone riding a Noctowl had Gaby...Kip...And she was sitting behind Seth...She turned her head in the other direction, and saw that Gaby's blue Charizard, Sapphire, was somehow carrying Red (If they can use Seismic Toss on them, the can carry them regularly).

They landed. Lily, too weak to sit up, fell right off the Flygon and landed on the ground, in extreme pain. Seth jumped off after her, just as Sapphire set down Red and Gaby flumped off the Noctowl.

"Lily! Lily, are you ok?" Seth said, jumping off after her and bending down to her. Lily nodded and nodded her head over at Gaby, who Kip was desperately trying to wake up.

"Gaby!!! Wake up!!!!" Kip said, nudging Gaby gently. He felt something on his hand and looked at it. It was drenched in blood. "Come on Gaby! Wake up!!!" Still no response.

"Help! Someone, is there a doctor here?!" Seth yelled. One man came forward and knelt down beside Gaby.

"Pokémorph? Right," Said the doctor. He checked her pulse. His face took on a grave expression. "No pulse. She's dead."

"NO! That can't be right!" Kip said, looking down at Gaby and then at the Doctor. "You're sure?"

Gaby remained motionless, staining the grass around her red with blood. Then, completely out of the blue, she opened her eyes.

"What the hell happened?" She said sitting up. Then her eyes widened as she felt the full shock of pain. She flumped backwards back onto the ground, moaning in pain. Kip was stunned.

"YOU'RE ALIVE?!" Everyone said. Gaby nodded painfully, not even trying to get up. Then, to everyone's extreme surprise and shock, Kip full out hugged her in relief. Gaby blinked in surprise, then turned bright red.

"K-Kip...What are you doing...?" Gaby said, her voice extremely high. Everyone stared at her, especially her friends.

"I though you were dead!" Kip said, hugging tighter, completely unaware of everyone staring at them. Gaby was now so red, her face could have passed for a tomato. "I'm so glad you're alive!"

"Yeah...I am too..." Gaby said, trying to cover up her shock with her regular attitude. "Mind getting off me?!"

It was only then that Kip realized what his was doing. He IMMEDIATELY jumped off of Gaby. It was his turn to turn red. Everyone burst out laughing as Gaby tried to worm her way away from him.

But that moment ended then when Lily screamed out in pain and fell over again. Gaby pulled herself over to her using one arm and Kip went over beside Lily. They saw to their horror that one of Lily's wings was horribly mangled, as well as her leg. Gaby also yelled again and toppled over onto her back as she once again felt the full shock of pain hit her, mostly centered around...Well, she was covered in burns and deep cuts, so it hurt everywhere.

"Kip...Get...Silversong..." Gaby said. Kip nodded. Then he looked worried.

"What about all these people?"

"Oh, yeah..." Gaby said in mock forgetfulness. "WHO CARES RIGHT NOW?!?!?!?!?!" Kip nodded and released the Lugia. When it appeared, everyone gasped and backed away from the legendary.

"My god..." Said the man that had resisted them earlier. "That's something you don't see every day..."

"Silversong...!" Gaby said. Kip had a sudden idea. He whistled. Then his little Lugia came flying from behind them, scaring the people at the back of the crowd.

"_What the hell is going on here?!?!" _Seaflyer said, spotting the two Pokémorphs. Gaby, Kip, Tami and Silversong all looked shocked.

'_What's with that attitude?!?!' _ Silversong said, staring at his little sister. She glared in his direction.

"_Why the hell should I tell you?!"_

'_Watch that mouth!!!'_

"Guys! Please!" Tami said, stepping between them. They stared at her.

"_Telepathic, eh? Cool!"_

"Nice to meet you. Now help these two out!"

"_Oh...Yeah..."_

Each Lugia picked a person: Silversong to Gaby, Seaflyer to Lily. Then they each laid a wing on them. Simultaneously, they glowed as one, and all injuries disappeared. They both sat up.

"Seaflyer! You've gotten better!" Lily said. The Lugia looked proudly at them all.

"Stop being so cocky," Kip said. Seaflyer glared at him.

"_At least I'M USEFUL!!!!!!"_

"Take that back!"

To all but the Psychics, this looked incredibly funny: Kip yelling at this Lugia, and responding to it when it hadn't replied. But to the Psychics...

"_Make me!"_

"Do it! Or I'll put you in a Pokéball and shut you up for good!"

"_I'd like to see you try!"_

Then Kip pulled out a Pokéball and tried to contain the Lugia. Unfortunately for him, it was much faster and simply jumped out of the way every time he tried. He kept at this for some time, all the while enduring Seaflyer's taunts.

"_You call that aim? Was that going for me? Oops, you missed again! And I though you were much faster then that! Why on Earth did I pick you to be my master? You can't even contain your own Pokémon! How pathetic!"_

"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!" Kip said, chucking the Pokéball at the Lugia. Seaflyer was caught off-guard and was hit. It disappeared inside the ball.

"Finally! I thought I'd never..."

"_That's what you think!"_

"WHAT?!?!?! BUT YOU'RE INSIDE YOUR BALL!!"

"_You think that would stop me?! BAKA!!!!"_ (Baka means Idiot in Japanese, for those of you who have forgotten)

"ARG!" Kip said, flopping backward onto the ground in defeat. Everyone laughed and watched as Mt. Chimney gave a spectacular show.

----------------------------

"BYE!!!"

The group had decided to leave after they had dropped everyone off back in their town. It was in ruins, but at least they were all alive.

"Oh, and one last thing..." Gaby said, turning back to them all and raising her hands up. A sudden flash emitted from them, and all of the people were knocked over.

"What did you do?!" Seth said, staring at all the unconscious people.

"Erased their memory," Gaby said as if that explained everything. They were still all confused. "If the Team heard that we had come here, they'd kill or capture ever single person here to find out where we went. Though I was a bit worried about Tami...I'm not sure how she'll take this one. I mean, she's a psychic too."

"Good thinking!"

So the went on their way, walking casually. Unfortunately, Lily had taken such a severe hit to her wing and leg that it would take a day or two to heal completely. And all of hers and Gaby's Pokémon were so tired out by the ordeal, she was using crutches to walk.

Thankfully, then now had some food to live on, so they stopped for dinner when they were far enough away from the town.

"Real food..." Kieran said hungrily, looking at the meal before him.

"When was the last time you had a decent meal, Kieran?" Lily asked as he started wolfing down his plate.

"Since...Never...This is so good," Kieran said happily between swallows.

"You must have been really hungry..." Lily said as she started to eat her meal. Gaby, for the first time in days, was eating, and she was almost as ravenous as Kieran.

"He's right...It's great!" Gaby said happily. The boys nodded in agreement. They all ate, Gaby and Kieran taking 3rd helpings of everything before Lily stopped them, saying that they'd run out of food if they at any more. When they had all finished, it was getting dark.

"Man, I need to get cleaned up," Lily said, looking down at herself. She was completely covered in soot. Gaby looked the same, but hadn't seemed to notice until now.

"Oh...Yeah..." She said. The bandana, which was back on her head, was now black.

"Wasn't there a little river not far from here?" Lily said, looking back over her shoulder (I know there isn't one, but OH WELL! THERE IS NOW!!!).

"I think so..."

"Ugh...But I hate taking baths...I mean, I'm a fire-type..." Lily said grumpily.

"I suppose that makes sense. I mean, I love water, and Lugia are the guardians of the sea..."

"Well, I can't stay like this...Let's go," Lily said reluctantly, grabbing her crutches and limping back the way they had came.

"Follow us and die," Gaby said threateningly as an afterthought to the boys. They nodded, very scared looks on their faces about what the girls would to them if they were caught anywhere near the river. Then Gaby and Lily disappeared into the night.

-------------------

"Water...I hate this stuff..."

Gaby was already swimming around in the water. Lily stared at her.

"How can you like this?!"

Gaby dove underwater, sending waves over to Lily on the bank. She jumped out of the way.

"You like lava."

"Good point. But I wouldn't hate it so much if my TAIL didn't have a chance of getting wet," Lily said, glancing over at the flame on her tail. "Stupid thing..."

_Of course! _Gaby thought as she surfaced again. _That's why Lily hates water so much! If too much touches that tail, she's dead!_

Then Gaby got an idea. She focused her power and managed to create a little bubble around the flame on Lily's tail. Lily's eyes widened.

"Great idea! You sure it's safe?"

"Positive!"

Lily undressed and slipped into the water carefully. She kept her tail above the water, but the field was holding out. She relaxed dove under the water and surfaced, shaking her bright orange hair.

"I've never been in water before like this..." She said. "I always had to be extra careful...But I'm free now."

"That's got to be the oddest thing I've ever heard: A fire-type loving water!" Gaby said. Lily laughed. Then she turned quiet. "What's up? Something on your mind?"

"Can't you just read it?"

"I don't read your mind. I'm not that prying. Though I can't say that for anyone else..." Gaby said. Lily sighed.

"Well...I do have something on my...It's just stupid."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Spit it out, Lily."

"Well..."

"Come on! Spill!"

"I'm just not sure..."

"Of what?! Don't make me read your mind!"

"I think...I think I really like Seth..."

"Duh. Tell me something I don't know."

"No, but you see...I don't know if he likes me."

"Hmm...I don't know...He's minds kind of strange for a human's...Kind of blocked out..."

"So you don't know?"

"I'd guess yes...But I could be wrong..."

"I think I really like him...But what if he doesn't like me?"

"Hard to say...I'd check for ya, but he's got that barrier thing..."

"Maybe I should just forget about it..."

"YOU IDIOT!!!" Gaby shouted. "Look, you'd hate yourself forever if you were wrong, right? The only way to tell is to ask him yourself!"

"ARE YOU INSANE?!?!?!?" Lily said, staring at Gaby. "Not in a million years!!"

---------------------------------------

"Kip...Do you think Lily likes me?" Seth said suddenly. Kip and Kieran both blinked.

"I don't know...Maybe..." Kip said.

"Of course she likes you! You're her friend, right?"

"Kieran, he doesn't mean it like that!" Kip said, nudging the Mightyena morph.

"Oh, you mean _likes_ him."

"I'm just not sure if she likes me at all."

"Hmm...It's a tough call..." Kieran said thoughtfully. "It's kind of a bad thing if the liking's only one-sided..."

"Who knows into a woman's mind?" Seth said.

"They're crazy. All of them," Kieran said. The other two nodded in agreement.

"But still...I'd like to know, one way or the other..."

"Well, the only way to know is to ask her..." Kip said.

"Have you gone completely INSANE?!?!?!?!" Seth said.

"Seth, you missed it! That happened a _long _time ago," Kieran said.

"If I ask Lily...She'll think I'm a freak or something for even thinking it!"

"Yeah, but if you don't..." Kieran and Kip said in unison, "It'd be a real waste if you didn't know..."

"No way! Not in a million years!"

And at that exact moment, Gaby, Kieran, and Kip all cracked into identical evil grins. Oh, they'd confess alright: One way or another...


	31. Ch31:Love unfolded, truthes revealed

Author's Note: Ok, I'm taking a break from being evil for a while...And having lots of Lily-Seth Fluffiness! And you'll learn just how evil someone can be...Especially Gaby!

This chapter is filed under 'HUMOUR', which is very, very rare for me!

Alright, so it's serious at the beginning. But it's probably the funniest thing I've every written for RG. So, read on, faithful reviewers!

Signed,

Me

----------------

Gaby and Lily came back two hours later, their clothes and themselves clean. The boys were already asleep, but Kieran was sitting at the top of the nearby hill, staring up into the full moon. Lily did not notice and laid down, falling asleep almost instantly. Gaby, however, saw him alone and walked up the hill and stood beside him. He took no notice and remained motionless.

"Funny thing, being a Pokémorph," Kieran said, almost to himself. Gaby's eyes opened slightly with interest. "Makes people treat you kinda differently, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. That...That was your first encounter with a lot of people for a long time, wasn't it?" Gaby said.

"Yeah."

"You know, you're kinda like me," Gaby said, sitting next to him and also staring up into the moon. "I mean, I'd been alone for so long, then all you people showed up so fast...I didn't know what to do."

"Gaby..." Kieran said nervously, looking at Gaby. "I know this might be prying, but...Why don't you every talk about your past? I mean, before you were captured and stuff." Gaby looked at him curiously, then looked back up into the bright moon.

"The truth is, I don't remember anything," Gaby said slowly. "I'm not even sure how I was captured...I just made that up as an excuse...But I really don't remember anything before waking up in a lab. For all I know, I could just be an experiment, like Mewtwo. No mother, no father. Maybe...Maybe I don't have a purpose in life. I know what Mewtwo went through: Was I only meant as an experiment?"

"I...I don't know," Kieran said. "I have a few memories...But not many. I only get a picture or two...One of a burning house, and the other of a girl. I don't remember much else except that I've lived all my life as a runaway. I don't even know why I've lived like this."

"Well...We're not alone any more, are we?" Gaby said, brightening up slightly. Then Gaby remembered her conversation with Lily. She cracked into an evil grin.

"Kieran, wake Kip up, but be careful not to disturb Seth or Lily. I've got a plan."

------------------

"What the hell, Gaby?! Why are we..."

"Shut up!" Gaby whispered, pulling Kieran and Kip farther away from the other two and into some bushes. "I've got a plan."

"For what, may I ask?" Kip said, annoyed that he had been woken up at close to 3 in the morning.

"Has Seth been talking about...Lily?" Gaby asked. Kieran and Kip nodded.

"He asked us while you two were gone about Lily. Why?"

"Because Lily's asking the same thing about Seth."

"You're joking!!"

"Not at all! But neither will admit it! We need to get them together, alone, where they can talk without being overheard."

"And how are we going to do that?" Kieran asked. This sounded good and evil at the same time!

"Well...We need a closed in area...Like a forest or something..."

Kip pulled out his Mininav (Pokénav-thing). He pressed some buttons, then smiled.

"There's a forest east of here. It'll only take an hour to get there."

"Great. Then, we need to lure them in separately then disappear."

"How do we do that?"

"Well...Uh..." Gaby said, trying to think of a way. How could they do that without them noticing? She hadn't really thought about that part.

"Wait...I've got an idea..." Kip said. "What if...What if we used their Pokémon? We could get them to go into the forest, and they'd be forced to chase after them. We could make them meet somewhere...And the Pokémon could make sure they talk!"

"But which Pokémon?" Kieran said.

"That's easy: Sparks and Red. They'd love to see them together!" Gaby said. "Let me go get them..."

Gaby stretched out her hand, levitated two balls to them, and dropped them on the ground. Then she released them.

"Be quiet!" Gaby said as they appeared. They made no noise. Gaby explained the trap. When she had finished, both Red and Sparks were looking as evil as the humans. After a few more hours of planning, Gaby rose.

"Everyone got it? We're doing this today," Gaby said as the sun rose. "Now get back in your balls and pretend nothing happened!"

The Pokémon returned immediately, and they all jumped out and got into a sleeping position just as the other two woke up. The rest pretended to wake up as well. Kieran gave a wide yawn that was not acting at all.

"Well, we're going east today," Gaby said, standing up. The others groaned. "GET UP!!!"

The others got up reluctantly, grabbed something to snack on, and went on their way. They decided to go Poké-back today, so Seth was on Sparks, Lily was on Red, Gaby was on Slick, Kip was borrowing Dragonsong, and Kieran was sitting behind Kip.

So they were on their way. And, just as Kip had said, they reached the forest in an hour. They stopped at the edge to give the Pokémon some rest.

"What is it with this forest?" Lily said. "It's so peaceful..."

"It's probably because we haven't been this calm for a long time. It's been so long since we haven't hit some sort of natural disaster of some sort."

"Yeah...I'm so tired..." Kieran said. That was the signal.

Instantly Sparks jumped up, static flying from its coat. Seth stood up.

"What's wrong?" He said. Sparks glanced over at Gaby as she winked. Then he took off into the forest.

"Sparks! What the...? Sparks!" Seth said, running after him. Then Red stood up and bolted off into a different part of the forest.

"Red? What the hell are you doing?!" Lily said, running after him. The three left all smiled triumphantly.

"Stage one in place. Let's just hope Red and Sparks make the magic happen!"

Sparks darted through the forest, looking for a clearing. He constantly made sounds to make sure Seth followed him, and so that Red knew where to go.

"Sparks! Where are you going?" Seth said, trying to catch up to his runaway Manectric.

Meanwhile, Lily was having the same dilemma with Red. She flew in and out of the trees, gradually catching up to her Charizard. Then, they fell into a clearing, just as Sparks and Seth did opposite her.

"S-Sparks...." Seth said, staring first at his Manectric, then at Red, and finally at Lily.

"Red! What are you doing?!" Lily said. The Charizard nudged her in the back, trying to push her towards Seth. Sparks did the same to Seth.

"W-What?!" Seth said. Then it hit them both at the same time.

"GABY!!!!!!" Seth and Lily yelled at the same time.

"She set us up..." Lily said. Red and Sparks both smiled evilly.

"And you're helping her!" Seth said.

"Red! I can't believe you'd do this to me!!!!!!" Lily said incredulously. The Charizard snorted.

"You're not going to let us go until we talk to each other, aren't you?" Seth said, sounding defeated. Sparks nodded.

"Alright, we'll talk...Just leave us alone, ok?" Lily said to her Charizard. Red nodded and flew out of the clearing with Sparks running beside him. Lily and Seth looked at each other.

"Uh...Well, this is kinda awkward..." Seth said, looking very nervous.

"Yeah..."

"So...Uh..." Seth said, remembering that she might think he was crazy for even suggesting what was on his mind. Lily was thinking the same thing.

_Gaby...I am going to KILL YOU!!_ Lily said. It was her fault. She planned this...Wait...She couldn't have done it alone!

_Kip, Kieran...YOU ARE DEAD!!!!!!! _Seth thought. They had set him up...No, they would have needed help...

"There's been a conspiracy against us..." Seth said, slowly, leaning up against a tree.

"I talked to Gaby last night, and you..." Lily said. Then it hit her. "S-Seth...What did you talk about when we were gone?"

"N-Nothing important!" Seth said, but he too realized it.

"Wait..." Lily said. But if she was wrong...

"_YOU IDIOT!!!" _Gaby's words from the night before rang in her head._ "Look, you'd hate yourself forever if you were wrong, right? The only way to tell is to ask him yourself!"_

"Seth...I don't know how to say this...But..." Lily started. Seth's eyes widened.

"_Yeah, but if you don't..."_ Kieran and Kip's voices repeated from last night, _"It'd be a real waste if you didn't know..."_

"Uh...Lily...?"

"Seth...?"

Then, at the exact same time...

"I think I really like you."

Both looked shocked. They stared at each other, dumbfounded.

"Seth..."

"Lily..."

And then Lily, losing her mind completely, ran up and hugged Seth. Seth was in a temporary state of shock.

"L-Lily..." Seth said, managing to make his arms work and hugged Lily back. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Me? I should be asking you that question!" Lily said, looking up at Seth.

"Uh...You see...Well, I was afraid you'd think I was a freak or something if I was wrong...And why didn't you tell me? You're not as stupid as that!"

"Well...To tell you the truth, I was afraid of a 'no'. That's why I didn't ask."

"This is going to sound strange, but...Gaby's evilness can be turned good!"

Lily laughed and hugged Seth again. Then they decided to go back to the others. When they got back...

"YOU THREE ARE THE EVILEST BEINGS ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And Gaby, Kip and Kieran spent the rest of the day running away from Lily and Seth. Eventually it turned into a game of tag, and finally, they decided to have a game of tag with only the Pokémorphs. Finally, they each got to show off their special powers.

"Alright! Gaby's it!" Kieran said, bolting away. Lily followed. Gaby smiled evilly and floated after them. Seth and Kip watched in amusement as Gaby swivelled up behind Lily and tapped her on the shoulder. Then Gaby darted away as fast as she could so Lily didn't tag her back.

Lily decided to pick on Kieran, so she chased after the slower kid. Or, at least everyone thought he was slower. When Lily was about to tag him, Kieran stopped, did a back flip over Lily, and darted away so quickly, it looked to everyone but Gaby that he was a black and grey blur against the grass.

Lily tried again, using stealth this time, got up beside him and whacked him with her tail. Kieran was sent flying, but he used that air to turn around and drive his foot into Gaby. She was knocked over into Lily, holding onto Kieran's foot. They were all in a heap of dizzy and laughing people, and needed the humans to help untangle themselves. When they were all detached, Gaby pulled Lily away from the rest while the boys pulled Seth away.

"What?" Lily said when they were a distance away from the rest.

"So? How'd it go?" Gaby said eagerly.

"Well..." Lily said. Maybe _this _was the best way to get revenge. "I just won't tell you..."

"What? Come o- Aww, don't you even think about revenge!" Gaby said. Lily just smiled evilly. Gaby looked thoughtful. "I see I'm rubbing off on you. Ah well, I'll just read your dreams tonight. They should tell the truth!"

Meanwhile, the boys were interrogating Seth about the same thing. Seth also thought it was the perfect opportunity for revenge.

"Well..." Seth said, getting all sad and depressed.

"Did she reject you?" Kip said.

"Well..." Seth said. Kieran and Kip looked sad for him. It was taking all of Seth's self control not to burst out laughing.

"Poor you," Kieran said, patting Seth on the back comfortingly.

"There'll be others, Seth!" Kip said, sounding pitiful.

"No, I don't think I'll ever find another one like her," Seth said, sighing heavily. Both boys tried to comfort Seth, who was turning red in the face with built up laughter. At that moment, Lily and Gaby returned. Lily took one look at Seth and knew what he had done. She burst out laughing, which set Seth off too. The two were in extreme hysterics.

"Well, I guess that's our reward for getting those two together," Gaby said, in a mock-disappointed voice. But she was smiling at the two.

"I guess our hard work paid off," Kieran said. _Now if only there was a way to get Gaby and Kip to admit to each other..._

Unfortunately for Kieran, both Kip and Gaby noticed the look that had come over his face. Gaby didn't need to be able to read his mind to tell what was going through his head.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!" Gaby and Kip said at the same time, rounding on the kid. He collapsed in a fit of laughter, which only made Seth and Lily, who were now rolling on the ground, clutching their sides because of the pain of laughter, laughing even harder. Kip and Gaby sighed. Then Gaby started to giggle. The giggles spread to Kip and evolved into full-out laughing.

_I haven't laughed this hard for a long time, _Gaby thought. _Maybe having friends isn't so bad after all!_


	32. Ch32:Keiran Finds a Friend

"Dad?" Said a 10-year old girl from her bed. She looked up at her father sadly.

"What is it?"

"Nobody likes me because I'm different. I'm not like the people outside the mansion. They don't have the powers I have. Nobody likes me!"

"It's ok, honey, " The father said, putting a comporting arm around his daughter as her eyes began to well up with tears. "I'll go find you some friends, ok?" Her tail swished back and forth excitedly.

"Really? They won't care that I'm different?" The girl said happily, looking up at her father.

"I promise! Now I'll go find them, ok?"

"Go Dad! Go!" The girl said, cheering her father on as he set her down on the bed and left the room.

Outside the large bedroom that his only daughter inhabited, the man thought as he walked down the large hall. What to do? Who would be his daughter's friend? It was so unfair that they treated her like this. It wasn't her fault she was a Pokémorph. She was bright, sociable, had a great sense of humour, and was always fun. But everyone was afraid of her. If only there were others like her...

----------------------------------

"Sparks? What's up?"

Seth's Manectric suddenly stopped, standing up straight and sniffing the air. Suddenly one of Kip's Pokéballs opened, and his Raichu appeared, sparks flying from its cheeks.

"Quickzap? What's wrong?" Kip asked his Raichu, who was staring out into the open plains before them.

"Rai, Raichu!" The Raichu said suddenly (Note: This is the first time in RG that a Pokémon's actually said something like this. See what I mean by getting more episode-like?). "Chu?"

"Any of you got a clue as to what it's saying?" Kip asked. Gaby nodded.

"He says that there's a presence. Sparks feels it too. It's a really weak signal, but I think it's coming from over there," Gaby said, pointing east. On the horizon there was a mound that Gaby identified as a mansion.

"Should we go check it out?" Lily asked, speaking to the group. She got an answer from the Raichu when it bolted forward, zooming ahead of them towards the house.

"Let's follow!" Seth said, hopping onto his Manectric and bolting forward as well. Gaby picked up Kip and started levitating after them while Kieran piggy-backed on Lily as she flew.

The small mouse-like Pokémon was running as fast as it could, trying to get to the mansion. Suddenly it stopped, looking quizzically at the small shape coming towards them. The others stopped too.

"What is that?" Kip said, straining his vision. Gaby's eyes widened as she realized what it was.

"QUICKZAP! MOVE!" Gaby said, dropping Kip and levitating the Raichu out of the way as a car zoomed by. One second later and the Pokémon would have been flat. The car stopped.

"HEY!!! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE DRIVING THAT THING!!!!" Kip yelled at the driver as Gaby deposited the Raichu in his arms. The driver's door opened and a man stepped out.

"Well-" The man said, about to retort. But then he caught sight of Pokémorphs and gasped. "You...You're...!"

"Yeah, you're point?" Kieran said, who was still on Lily. The man looked so happy, it was disturbing.

"I can't believe it! Pokémorphs!" The man said happily, running up to them. "Come with me. Please! I'll explain on the way!"

"Why should we trust you?" Seth said. But even as he said it, Sparks zapped him. That meant 'yes', in a very painful way to poor Seth. To top it off, Quickzap smiled and jumped out of Kip's arms, landing in front of the man. The man beamed.

"This is great! Come on, there's no time to loose!"

They returned their Pokémon and got inside the car. On the way, the man was explaining.

"You see, my daughter is a Pokémorph like you three..."

"A Pokémorph?!" They all exclaimed.

"Yes, a Pokémorph. My late wife, Sarah, was a Pokémorph. She died when little Kati was 3. Ever since then, she's had no-one but me in her life. None of the kids from miles around here will come near her. She's so alone. And her only other friend, Patch, has gone missing."

"When did patch disappear?" Kieran asked.

"Patch, who is a Pichu, disappeared 3 months ago. We've no idea what happened to him, and ever since Kati has been depressed. Please, will you go see her? You're Pokémorphs, so you won't care about her being one, right?"

"Absolutely not!" Lily said. "Even if we were human we wouldn't care!"

"Good. We're here."

They stopped and got out. The mansion was enormous. They must have been miles and miles away for it to have looked that small.

"Wow..." Kieran and Gaby said in unison, staring up at the tall building.

"Come! Please!" The man said.

"I don't think we got your name, sir," Kip said, following after him with everyone else.

"Call me Jason," The man said, leading them up three flights of stairs into a hallway.

Inside her room, the girl heard the sounds of her father returning...But he wasn't alone! She jumped out of bed, running across the room and bounding through the door. She saw 6 figures at the end of the hall, recognizing one as her father.

"Dad!" The girl said, running forward. "You found some friends!!!"

"Yes! Now why don't we all go in your room and have everyone introduce themselves!" Jason said, leading them all into a huge room. Inside it was covered wall-to-wall in Pokémon stuff: Bags, books, toys, you name it, it was there. She hopped up onto the bed. And finally they got a good look at her in the light.

She was about 4 1/2 feet tall and had short black hair. She was wearing a t-shirt that said 'PICHU!' on it with overly-baggy jeans. Out of the back of her jeans poked a yellow and black tail that was extremely exited, wagging back and forth so fast it was a blur. Finally, her eyes were black and yellow.

"Introduce yourself," Her father said. The girl smiled at the attention.

"My name's Kati, and I'm a Pichu Pokémorph! But who are you?" She asked. Kieran was for some strange reason hiding behind everyone else.

"Well, I'm Kip," Kip said.

"Lily," Lily said.

"Name's Seth," Seth said.

"I'm Gaby," Gaby said. They waited.

"Where's the last one? I'm sure I saw another one out there in the hall," Kati said. Kieran stepped sheepishly out.

"I-I'm Kieran..." Said the little Mightyena morph timidly. Kati stared at him.

"You're about my age!" She said, hopping down from the bed and walking up to Kieran. His face was turning bright red. She giggled and put her face under his bent one. He jumped. She laughed.

"Well, now that you're all here, what do you want to do?" Kati asked, looking around. Suddenly one of Kip's Pokéballs opened, and once again Quickzap appeared. Kati gasped as she saw the Raichu.

"Wow!!!!! A real Raichu!!!!!" She said, bending down to it's level. Quickzap walked forward to the girl.

"Rai?" it asked curiously. The girl gasped.

"I can understand it like I understood Patch!" She said. The Raichu's eyes widened.

"Rai Rai?"

"Pichu! Pi Pichu!" The girl answered. The Raichu looked very pleased. Gaby smiled as the two continued talking to each other.

"Any idea what they're saying, Gaby?" Lily asked. Gaby nodded.

"She's asking about us..." Gaby said. She giggled. "Especially Kieran. Look at him!"

Lily looked. To her great surprise and amusement, Kieran was not boasting loudly or showing off. He was quiet, crouching down like a dog, his head bent. But even with his thick mat of black hair on his head, they could all tell he was blushing.

"Why don't we go downstairs and talk to Jason?" Gaby suddenly suggested. Everyone nodded. When Kieran tried to follow them out, Kip stopped him.

"You stay here and watch Quickzap," Kip said, turning him back around. "See ya!"

"But-" Kieran said, trying to follow. But Seth and Lily smiled evilly back at him.

"Just doing what you did to us!" They said in unison. Then they disappeared down the stairs after the rest, leaving Kieran alone with Kati. He gulped and went back in.

"So, uh..." Kieran said, rubbing the back of his head (Anime Style) like Seth had done so many times before. Kati looked up. Behind her, Quickzap was smiling as evilly as Lily and Seth had been moments before.

"So you're a Mightyena morph?" Kati said, surveying him. Suddenly her eyes rested on his tail.

Pichu instinct took over. She walked over and started batting it like a string. Kieran's eyes widened as he surprised a giggle and stepped away.

"Don't do that!" He said, trying to hide his grin. "It tickles!"

"All the more reason to, then!" She said, pouncing on his tail. He jumped out of the way. He smiled. She smiled.

"Raichu!" The Pokémon said happily.

And so Kati chased Kieran around the large room, trying to attack his tail. Kieran jumped out of the way as best he could, but Kati's speed got the better of him. She finally attacked onto his tail. Excitedly, she accidentally zapped him with electricity. Kieran fell over with the shock.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Are you ok?" Kati said, kneeling over Kieran. He opened his eyes and beamed.

"That was great!!" He said. "It works like sugar!!! Energy boost!"

He jumped up and started bounding around the gigantic room. Kati got up and began chasing after him. Then Kieran was after her, trying to catch up to her. And all the while Quickzap was happily sitting on the bed, happily taking the credit for the matchmaking. He decided that they were safe and left the room through a small flap in the door.

After at least another half and hour, the two kids were tired out. They collapsed onto the giant bed, panting (Kieran more so then Kati. He's a Mightyena morph, remember). Finally, Kati spoke up.

"Kieran...I haven't had this much fun since Patch and Mom were here," Kati said, rolling over onto her stomach to face Kieran.

"I haven't had this much fun...Ever," Kieran said, also rolling over. Kati smiled.

_She's so happy! _Kieran though. _She's fun,, intelligent...She's way to good for a mutt like me!_

_He's so brave and loyal! _Kati thought. _He's energetic, cool...He's way too good for me!_

They both sighed at exactly the same time. They both knew that their guardians would never let them stay together. It wasn't fair!

By now it had gotten dark. Kieran rolled over onto his back, trying to sort through the strange thing going through his head. He'd never felt this way before. It was as if new life was coursing through him. Kati felt the same thing.

Suddenly Kieran sat bolt upright. Kati sat up and looked at him.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I thought I heard..." Kieran said. Then he heard it. Distinct male voices...He could hear them talking far away. He focused his hearing. Suddenly they came in loud and clear.

"I thought I told you to make sure that thing was unconscious!" Said the first voice, high-pitched and gnarly sounding.

"I thought it was!" Said a second, lower and more timid then the first.

"You were supposed to make sure!" Said the first voice again.

"I can't hold on to it...It's squirming," Said the third, a deep and grunting voice.

"Oh, just do this!" Said the first. Kieran now believed that this was the leader, and the second and third were henchmen. "Dustox, put it to sleep with Sleep Powder!"

Suddenly the sounds of restraint stopped. There was a light thump as what had to be the third man dropped his package into a box.

"Once we get the ransom from that fool and his daughter up at the mansion for this little runt, we'll be rich!" Said the first. The sound of a foot kicking the box reached Kieran's ears.

"So we are going to give it over to them for the money?" Asked the third. Something about how he said it made Kieran uncomfortable.

"Oh, that's good! I thought we were going to have to kill-" Said the second, sounding relieved. But he was cut off by the first one.

"Of course we're going to kill it! We'll just take the money and leave the dead Pichu all packaged up in pieces for the girl!"

And he laughed. He laughed about what he was going to do. And now the third voice joined in with him, and then the second. They were all laughing like maniacs at their scam. And then it hit Kieran like a brick in the face.

They were talking about Patch. That was the little Pichu. There were going to kill the one friend Kati had left in her life. And they were _laughing._ Laughing!

Kieran had never, _never_ been this angry before. Rage coursed through him. How could they do this?!?!?!

They wouldn't. Kieran would stop them. He had to. There was no 'try'. He had to. He would never live with himself if he didn't.

"What's wrong, Kieran?" Kati asked, noticing the look of his face. His hands clenched.

"Kati...I'm not sure how to say this, but Patch was kidnapped. There are these three men, and they plan to ransom him to you for money. Then they're going...to kill him."

"How do you know?" Kati asked.

"I have extremely acute hearing. I can't be wrong about this Kati."

"NO!!!!!!" Kati screamed. "We have to stop them!"

"And we'll need everyone's help. Come on!" Kieran yelled, grabbing Kari's wrist and bolting out of the room. They ran downstairs, where everyone was talking happily about random things. They stopped when the two kids burst into the room.

"Patch is in trouble!" Kati said.

"And these people are trying to murder him and sell him for ransom!!!" Kieran said angrily. Everyone jumped up.

"We'll have to move fast," Gaby said, taking charge. "Kip, Seth: You stay here with Jason..."

"No way! You are not leaving me behind!" Kip said. Seth nodded. Gaby glared.

"Don't argue! Stay here and get help. I'll call you for backup if we-"

"NO!!!! We are going with you!" They said defiantly. Kieran couldn't take it.

"Why are you arguing like this when Patch is going to DIE?!?!?!?!" He shouted. Everyone went quiet. Kieran decided he had to take charge. "Alright. Me and Lily will transform into our Pokémon ourselves. Gaby, you levitate behind us. You can't go in Lugia form, you'll attract attention. Kati, you stay with Kip and your dad and get help. Seth, you follow up behind on Sparks with Quickzap and Seaflyer. Understood?"

Everyone nodded except for Kati. Kieran looked at her and knew she was about to make an argument. But as soon as he opened his mouth...

"You'll need me. I can detect Patch's energy signal," She said defiantly before Kieran could start. "I trained him to block it off from anyone but me in case he was in trouble. Apparently he mastered it too late."

"Kati..."

"You know you'll never shake me off," Kati said, managing a small smile. "I'm just as fast as you are."

Kieran smiled and knew she was right. He turned back to the rest.

"We ready? Follow me and Kati up front. And stay as quiet as you can!"


	33. Ch33:The Criminals Three

Author's note: NOW do you see what I mean by episodes? No? Damn it, go get your head examined!!!!!!! In a microwave!!!!!! I feel so random!!! But take my advice on the microwave thing!

Don't ask where that came from. Oh no, it's the psycho caretakers again...NO! I DO NOT NEED MORE MEDICINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I fight off these strange people, read on! DIE, EVIL MIDGETS WHO WEAR WHITE SUITS AND MASKS AND LOOK LIKE ASTRONAUTS!!!!!!!! I DON'T NEED ANY MORE TRANQUILIZERS!!!!!!!!!!! I...ug....I feel sleepy...Bye-bye....((Snore))

Me

-----------------------------

Kieran slinked outside, the rest of his team following behind him. _His _team? It sounded strange. Why couldn't one of the older kids lead? Why was it him this time?

Because he needed to take charge. He had taken responsibility for this mission, so it was up to him.

Outside, it was close to pitch dark. A chilling breeze rippled through the area, carrying the smell of pine from who knew where. Kieran turned around to face the group.

"We have to move hard and fast," He said, sounding more like a drill sergeant then an 11 year old, "If we're going to save Patch, we have to strike now. With three of us in our Pokémon forms, we're not going to be able to talk. Understood?" There was a unanimous nod from the group. "Let's go!"

Lily transformed first. In a red flash that blinded everyone's eyes in comparison the blackness around them, Lily became a Charizard.

Then Kati transformed. In a bright yellow flash and shower of sparks, Kati was a Pichu.

Finally, it was Kieran's turn. His eyes started glowing red. Without a flash, he transformed. He in fact did flash, but since his flash let out black light, the others couldn't tell the difference. He had turned into a fully-fledged Mightyena.

Kieran bent down, and Kati as a Pichu jumped onto his back. Then he took off running into the black.

Lily followed, using her tail as a torch. Everyone followed close to Lily so that they didn't loose her one source of light. By now, it was complete dark. Even Gaby was having trouble seeing.

But not Kieran. Being a dark type had its advantages, and this was one of them. The little light that most people couldn't have used or seen reflected in Kieran's grey eyes, flashing the bright blue. With that wisp of light, he could see around him like it was day.

He stopped to make sure he hadn't gone too far ahead of the others. They were quite a distance behind him. He waited. They caught up, panting. Then the chase resumed.

They eventually reached the place they were looking for. They knew because Kati jumped off Kieran and started zooming across the ground, disappearing through a large hole in the ground. They followed.

Under the ground it was damp and dreary, a soft dripping sound echoing in the cave-like place. When Lily entered, it was revealed that the walls, floor and ceiling were pure metal, and that they were in a hall. Kieran gave a nod to Gaby. It was large enough to transform, so Gaby became her Lugia self. Kati began running to the left, so they all followed.

In the underground it was a maze. On one turn, they lost sight of Kati and were faced with two tunnels. To make matters worse, Kieran had pulled ahead with Kati, leaving the remaining 3 (5 if you count the two Pokémon) completely lost.

"Which way do we go?" Seth asked. Lily shook her head.

"_I have no idea, Gaby."_

_Neither do I._

"Well...Let's go left!" Seth said. The others nodded and went left. If only they had known that the other two had gone right...

Kieran and Kati were way ahead. They had lost the others without them realizing it. When Kieran turned back to see if they were following, they weren't there. Kati stopped too.

"Pichu, Pi Pichu!!!" Kati said worriedly. It was clear that something was wrong, and Kieran understood. The metal walls were distorting the signal. She couldn't tell where it was coming from anymore!

Kieran nodded. Kati jumped back onto him, and he took off running back the direction they had come. When they reached the fork, they took a left.

--------------------

"Wha-? Do you two hear that?"

"Yeah...Sounds like people."

"Let's see...Yup, people sounds all right. Coming towards us."

"Cops?"

"Nah, too few."

"Here they come. Get the nets ready."

The three men hid behind boxes as they saw Gaby, Lily, Seth, Sparks, and Seaflyer. The five looked around. The men were astounded.

"My god...A Charizard, two Lugia, a Manectric and a Human!" One of the men whispered, the leader. "But two Lugia! And I thought they didn't exist..."

"Did you hear that?" Seth said. "I could have sworn I just heard..."

"Gotcha!!!!!"

The three men leapt out, each holding something in their hands. Suddenly three nets zoomed towards them. Seaflyer, Lily, Gaby and Sparks jumped aside, but Seth was caught. He lost his balance, falling forward off the platform and landing in a pile of boxes, dazed. Then another three nets were after them, and something more this time: a paralyzing laser of some sort. They discovered what the strange beam of light meant when Seaflyer was hit. She stopped mid-air, the electricity jumping between her feathers. She plummeted to the ground, unable to move at all. It was Sparks that saved her, however. He jumped in front of here, taking the net for her. Sparks was then zapped with a purple energy from the net, leaving him immobilized.

"_Sparks!!! What the hell is going on?!?!"_

"Two down, three to go!" One of the men said. Then he fired another shot at Seaflyer. She dodged it.

"My, you're a feisty little one!" Another man said. He stepped up to Seaflyer, cornering her. He held his hand up, about to throw something at the little Pokémon, but...

Gaby's giant tail came out of nowhere, sending the man flying into the air, landing head-first in some boxes, toppling over in them and stuck.

"_Thanks Gaby!"_

_Don't mention it._

But the celebration didn't last long. As soon as Seaflyer was free, another man came out of nowhere, firing a shot at Gaby. It missed, but only by a hair. They flew away, circling up near the ceiling.

But Lily was having problems of her own. She was cornered as well, in a bad situation. Both men were upon her, and the third had unstuck himself and joined the two. The held their hands high, but...

"BACK OFF!!!!" Seth said. This distracted one of the men enough to turn around. This gave Lily the chance to fly up, dodging the two. The third man grunted and pressed a button on a remote. Seth was zapped with a strong energy that made him nearly cry out.

This got Lily ticked. She flew up behind the man and lifted him up, making him lose his hold on the remote. She flew up and up, and was just about to execute a perfect Seismic Toss when the leader threw a net up at her. It caught her, making her drop the man 50 feet. He once again landed in some boxes, prolonging his life. Lily, however, was enveloped in the net and fell 50 feet, also landing in boxes. The energy shock that followed, however, gave a great surprise to the men. The power of the shock had de-transformed Lily back into her human self. The men stared, but the leader broke the silence with a laugh.

"Pokémorph, eh?" He said, rounding on the struggling girl. "Well, then I suppose the bigger Lugia is one too? And the smaller? Boys, Get 'em! They're worth as much, if not more!"

"Right!"

The other two then leapt up, grabbing onto Gaby's wings. She thrashed, throwing one of them off. But the second held tight and threw a net. He let go of the wing just as the net entrapped Gaby and transformed her back.

"I was right. And now for the little one..." The man said, rounding on the little Lugia. The others joined him, holding their hands high, about to throw the net at her. With one sweep, it was over. They were caught.

A few minutes later, they were all dangling from hooks in the ceiling, suspended like Metapod. The two followers were standing back from the rest while the leader was going up to each, surveying them.

"Well, you're a strong little Manectric. You'll fetch a handsome price on the market for a fighter beast," He said, regarding sparks. He growled menacingly. "Oh, but they'll have to work on your temper. What do we have next?" He moved onto Seth.

"Hmm..." He said, turning his head from side to side. Seth looked very angry but remained still from the threat of the fat man standing behind the leader; the one holding the remote. "You'll go for a small price...Maybe a slightly larger one...Oh, but you're an able-bodied boy. A guess tests might be done on you...Team Rocket said they were interested." He moved onto Seaflyer, who was next in line.

"And you...You are big money. I didn't really think Lugia existed, but I guess I was wrong! You'll get BIG money...Oh yes...." Seaflyer was saying a multitude of curses telepathically, and Gaby almost found it amusing. But not when the man moved to her, next in line.

"A Lugia Pokémorph...You're worth just as much as the little one beside you. I know a lot of people who'd love to get their hands on a girl like you..."

"You bastard," Gaby said angrily, eyes starting to turn red. The man laughed.

"Aw, a little scared? You should be."

"Scared of a Rat like you? Not in my lifetime."

"The remote...?"

Gaby suddenly felt excruciating pain all around her. But she didn't cry out. She only looked back up and glared at the man. And finally Lily. The man stopped short when he came to her. He stared.

"You're a pretty one, aren't you?" He said, getting close to her. She didn't move, only stared straight on. "I can think of many men who would want you for purposes other then you being a Pokémorph...Myself among them."

THAT got Seth mad. Lily made a reaction to that as well: A mixture of pure _hatred _and horror. Seth got a different reaction. To put frankly: MAD.

"I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU LAY ONE FINGER ON HER!!!!!!!" Seth said, struggling against the energy net. The man turned to the remote holder and let him silence Seth.

"Yes...You're a good little girl," He said, taking a stray piece of orange hair in her face a putting it back in it's place. Lily was fuming.

"You...You..." She said, at a loss for words. "I'll barbequeyou if I get out of this net!!!!!"

"I'd like to see you try, little thing," the man said, smiling. That made Lily go back to her senses and stare straight down. "Lost hope finally? Realized no one's coming to save you?" Lily looked up, smiling.

"No, I'd just like you to meet a little friend of mine. GO KIERAN!!!!!! GO!!!!!!!!!"

The man wheeled around. Sure enough, a Mightyena was standing on the top platform, his fur standing on end in rage. Beside it was a little Pichu, sparks flying from it's cheeks.

"Kieran!" Gaby yelled happily.

"_There you are!"_

"You made it! What took you?" Seth said.

"What the-?"

The men were astounded as the Mightyena leapt down 60 feet from the platform, landing lightly. The Pichu did not jump down with the Mightyena, but stayed up on the platform.

"Well, another quarry for the day!" The leader said, stepping away from Lily towards the dog-like Dark Pokémon. "Get him!"

The two other men lunged, trying to bring Kieran down. He jumped out of the way lightly, latching up with his claws onto Gaby's net. He jumped off again as another man lunged, missing him and Gaby. Gaby sighed.

"If you can't even hit me, you really need to work on your aim," She said.

Kieran bounded around the room, all three men panting after him. When he was far enough, he turned around, facing them. They stopped and smiled, holding their nets in the air.

"Knew...You couldn't...Keep running...Forever!" The leader panted. "Now...You're ours!"

He threw his net. But Kieran was much faster. He jumped up, kicking his back legs out at the leader. That knocked him into the second man, who lost his grip on the net. The net soared away and hit the third man, trapping him an sending him into pain as the net zapped him.

"Why you little...!" The leader said, getting up. He made another net appear in his hands and threw it at poor Kieran.

Kieran dodged this one. The second man (Who had the remote) lunged at him. His lunged fell short when Kieran side-stepped him, letting him fall face first onto the ground. The remote slid from his hand and went into some boxes. The boxes fell on top of the remote, pressing down the button, which sent everyone in a net into a world of pain. It wasn't long before the trapper man was unconscious.

"KIERAN! GET THE REMOTE!!!!!" Gaby yelled. Kieran looked up to Kati, but the little Pichu shook its head. Kieran understood.

But he was off-guard. The man kicked Kieran in the side, sending him into the air and slamming him into a wall. The man looked at the poor Mightyena, who's right leg was broken. Kieran tried feebly to stand up, but couldn't. The man laughed.

"You couldn't get away from me forever!" He said, kicking the unfortunate Pokémon again. "I'll make you into a nice fur coat, and...!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The man never finished his sentence, because at that moment Kati leapt off the 60-foot-high platform. Timed seemed to slow as the little Pokémon appeared to fly in the air above them.

The little Pichu landed in a box and scurried around. Then it popped back up, holding hands with another Pichu. It had a large black splotch over it's eye, and that meant it must be Patch.

Then, out of nowhere, the two little Pokémon jumped out again, holding hands. The tiny mouse Pokémon righted themselves, and, scrunched their tiny bodies, closed it's eyes in concentration. And from them came a huge bolt of electricity down on the leader. He was zapped to a crisp, dropping the net and falling over, twitching. He had also fallen onto some control panel: The nets disappeared, releasing everyone.

But when Pichu use electric attacks, they shock themselves. Kati and Patch were no exceptions. They fell, their body flying with sparks, down. Midway, Kati transformed back into human form. Kieran transformed back as well, and, grabbing onto a pole, righted himself enough to throw himself under Kati and Patch, cushioning their fall. Kieran cried out in pain as they were all flung to the floor. Kati's eyes fluttered open.

"We did it!!" She said, getting off of Kieran with Patch. Then she saw the pain he was in. "Oh Kieran! You're leg's broken!"

"It's nothin'!" Kieran said, sitting up. But it wasn't nothing. His bone was almost snapped in half.

"Kieran," Kati said. "You bleeding, the bone is snapped, and your in so much pain your eyes are watering."

"No they're not!" He said, wiping the tears of pain away quickly with his sleeve.

"Don't act tough on me," Kati said, mock attitude in her voice. Kieran had to smile at that. The rest of his company was giggling madly. Gaby walked over with Seaflyer and healed his leg.

"Thanks Gaby," Kieran mumbled, getting to his feet with her help. "But I have to ask you something: Why didn't you just beat those guys up with Psychic or Aeroblast or Fireblast or something?"

"Well, there are two reasons we didn't use our attacks," Lily said. "One: Those nets somehow drained the power out of you and sealed your energy away. Two: Look at the walls. They're pure metal. Gaby and Seaflyer can't pinpoint their Psychic because of all the reflections, and Aeroblast and Fireblast would have just kept going and going, bouncing off the walls."

"But why did my electric attack work?" Kati asked.

"I think it was because there are two of you," Gaby said. "You and Patch combined your energy into one. And because you're Pichu, the energy is not quite strong enough to cause any excess harm if you hit most of your target. And from the looks of it, you hit that target pretty damn well." Gaby looked over at the still twitching man with satisfaction in her eyes.

"Oh, and there's one more thing I have to do..." Lily said, walking over to the man. She opened her mouth and shot out a flame, torching his hair and burning it off completely. Then they tied the three together and hauled them back to the surface, where a couple of Police cars were waiting. Seth took them up to the surface with Sparks so questions wouldn't be asked about the morphs. When they had gone, the rest surfaced. Kip and Jason looked so relieved, they collapsed onto each other.

"Kati, you're fine! And...PATCH!" Jason said happily as he saw the Pichu spark happily.

------------------------

"Well, thanks for having us. We all had a really great time."

"Well...Except for the part where we almost got killed..."

Everyone laughed. The gang was going again, and they were saying goodbye to Kati, Jason and Patch. Kieran had gotten all quiet. Kati went bravely up to him. He looked up.

"Here," She said, hading him something. He took it and looked at it. It was a small black coin with a bright yellow lightning bolt on it. He smiled at her.

"Thanks!"

"And I never did properly thank you for saving Patch!" She said. And much to Kieran surprise and secret delight, she kissed him on the cheek. Everyone burst into fits of silent giggles as Kieran's face turned bright red. She smiled at him.

"Goodbye!!!" The gang called back to them. The small dots at the mansion waved, and Kieran swore he saw a zap of electricity. Then they turned around and went on their way.


	34. Ch34:A Battle of Wills

Author's note: It's been too long since I've had some fun. Let's hear a shout for the REGULAR RG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, so there's a bit of fluff...Good fluff...Very CUTE fluff. So...I like this chapter. You will too, but only if you like violence and CUTE fluff.

**HAPPY SIX MONTH ANNIVERSARY TO ROGUE GENETICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

------------------------------------

"5!"

"Yes?"

"Are you ready? No mistakes this time, you must finish your mission without fail."

"Yes father."

"Then be off! Just follow the locator to 1."

"How are the ACT and the GAC coming along?"

"Fine. Now go!"

------------------------------------------------------------

Winter was fast approaching. All the group members were feeling the temperature drop slowly; Kip's Pokénav had been telling them that the temperature was down to seasonably low temperatures for the part of Hoenn they were in.

"Not too much longer, and it'll be as cold as Blackthorn," Gaby said. All envied her because she had a tolerance to cold and snow. Lily was especially pissed because winter meant one thing: Hiding.

"Where are we going to bed down for winter?" Lily asked. They looked confused.

"Oh, that's right, you're a Charizard. And I suppose you guys won't be able to take a good trip to Kanto or Johto."

"Is it warmer?"

"Maybe. It's hard to say. If we go to Blackthorn in Johto, we'll have a hell of a time keeping warm. But Cianwood Island should be pretty warm. Of course, you have to contend with vicious rainstorms..."

"No."

"Alright...I know! Azalea Town! They're pretty South..."

"Gaby, winter's only a few weeks away. We'll never get there in time."

"And how do you know all the best spots in Johto?" Seth asked.

"Hmm..." Gaby said sarcastically. "Look at my Pokémon. Notice that they're all JOHTO's and KANTO's?! If I could take a guess at which of these continents I came from originally..." Her eyes flashed quickly over at Kieran "...I'd bet I was from Johto."

"That doesn't solve my problem," Lily said.

"Um...Ok. How about we just find a nice Southern tip of Hoenn and stick around there. Maybe find a beach or something. Or an island!" Kip suggested. Gaby stared at him.

"You know Kip, I think that's the smartest suggestion you've ever made!"

"Shut up."

"No, that was!" Kieran said. Everyone laughed. Gaby tried very hard not to but had to smile.

They continued on, heading South. Progress was slow because the days were getting darker faster, and they could only continue on for a while before it got too dark. The scent in the air was fresh and cold. They decided to sleep in little alcoves in the side of a cliff that veered off to their left.

All was quiet and peaceful. The trees around them (Which were sparse) were rusting and dropping leaves. Very uncharacteristically, Kieran dropped off first, and Gaby soon after. Resting felt good. Almost too good...

A sharp crack broke the silence. The only one still awake, Seth, glanced around with one bleary eye. Something was very strange...This sleep felt too good. It was almost unnatural...

Then something caught his eye. A glittering, pinkish dust was outside his alcove. He stuck his hand outside to touch it and immediately lost all feeling to that hand. He withdrew it quickly.

Were they under a swarm of Butterfree? No, they didn't come this way this late in the season. Then why was there powder outside his window?

_It's an ambush! Team Rocket!_

Seth tried to yell out, but all he could manage was a small cry. Kieran heard this through his sleep and woke up.

"Hey Seth, what's-?" Kieran asked, trying to rub his eyes. But his hand didn't move. In fact, he didn't hear himself speak. And Seth didn't give him and answer.

_Stun Spore and Sleep powder! We're under attack! And it looks like the others know it too!_

He was right. They were all Paralyzed badly, so much that they couldn't move an inch. Kieran was the highest of the group, and he blended into the surrounding darkness. He doubted their pursuers could see him. He was also above most of the spore and wasn't as badly Paralyzed. But the others wouldn't be so lucky.

"Let's see..." Said an unfamiliar male voice. "Well, we've got a boy..." A thump was heard as Kip was dragged from his hiding place and brought to the ground. The sounds of someone shuffling to tie him up were heard, "and here's the Charizard morph, 002!" Another thump, followed by more shuffling. "Where's the...Oh, here's Dr. Sakio's son! Good, good! He'll be happy we found you. But where's the other one, the one..."

"Just hurry up!" Came a voice. This one was also male. It sounded like it belonged to a 17 year old. "I want to get this over with as quickly as we can. Find the girl!"

"Got her! She's a feisty one...Ow!!" A man said. Gaby was forcefully dropped from a great height. Kieran could tell by the scent of blood and the cry that Gaby had bitten the man. "Ouch! Damn girl..."

"There you are, my Rival!" 005 said, looking down at Gaby. She looked up at him. "Long time no see! I hope you've enjoyed your days free? Of course, you're likely to break out again." Gaby made a muffled attempt to answer. "You! Give her a healing dose! Just enough for her to talk."

"Nice to see you again 5!" Gaby said. _So she knows him? And he knows her? _"So why did you come to get me if you knew you wouldn't have a chance of containing us?"

"Simple. We have to disable you. That's the whole purpose to my mission."

"Disable me? And where's that sister of yours?"

"She's at the lab."

"And the disable? What are you gonna do, cut my leg off or something?"

"So simple-minded... No, we're not cutting a limb off. I suppose we should do this now. Unfortunately, this will only work for one attack, but we've figured which to get rid of."

"I don't understand."

_I get it! They're going to use a device to get rid of one of Gaby's abilities...But which?_

"Get the other two!" The boy snapped. Kieran heard a Pokéball being released and the sound of another thump.

"So, this is the creature you've dubbed 'Silversong'?" The boy said, observing the paralyzed Lugia. "And this...What's your name?"

"_Damn you! Leave them alone!!"_

"I simply asked your name. But I'll call you..."

"_Seaflyer. Any name given by you would coat me in filth."_

"So poetic for a trapped creature," 005 said. "Now that we have all three of you...Move the others. Set them next to each other."

Dragging sounds were heard, as well as muffled cries. Kieran felt his limbs regaining some form of life; He found he was able to move over enough to see what was going on below him and still blend into the dark. He was regaining feeling much more quickly.

Gaby, Silversong, and Seaflyer were laying next to each other, the others tied to a tree and gagged. Lily had a restraint over her neck, blocking her powers and immobilizing her.

The boy he guessed to be 005 was holding a small cylinder shape in his hand. It looked like a baton or wand or something of the sort. An inscription was on it, but it was too dark and too far away for Kieran to make it out.

_Why haven't they gone after me? Wait...They don't know I'm here! I better use that to my advantage...But there's no way to help them. Not yet...I can't move that much yet._

"What the hell are you doing?" Gaby asked, eyeing the stick-thing with fear. 005 smiled.

"This won't hurt...Ok, I lied. I'm going to erase a move from each of you; a move you all share. No, not Aeroblast. That would be a waste. No, the move you're all losing is Recover. You see, it's a never-ending battle against you if you all can just heal yourselves and anyone else whenever you want. Sure, Aeroblast is a powerful attack, but dodging it and setting up barriers only takes practice. But healing yourself...That's a tricky thing to counter. So..."

He held the baton-thing up, then pointed it at the three. They immediately glowed. Gaby, the only one having voice, screamed. Kieran knew Seaflyer was screaming too, although he couldn't hear it. Silversong was enduring it, but even it was getting to him. This continued for a minute. The three tied to the tree were struggling fiercely to get free. But that wasn't working. When if finally subsided, all three were breathing heavily.

"Now let's see...Ah, yes. I'm only supposed to take one of you back with me. Come on, Seth. Your father's anxious to see you again."

Kieran found that his immune system had countered the Paralysis and he could move again. _Whoever this guy is, he knows everyone here. And he wants to take Seth! Not on my watch!!!!!!_

He quickly transformed into his Mightyena form and jumped down, landing lightly beside the tree. Fortunately, no-one was looking in his direction at that exact moment, giving him a second to use his claws and free his friends. He bit off Lily's restraint.

"What the...?" 005 said he saw them all free. Unfortunately for Kieran, 005 had enhanced sight, and was able to make out a dark form among the rest of the black. "Get it!"

"Uh...Get what?" The rest of the men asked. They could not see what 005 was talking about.

"The thing that just let these...Oh, I suppose you're a bit busy...." 005 cut off as he saw Lily, Kip and Seth either using Pokémon or themselves to attack the team of 50 Rockets and Aqua. "Fine, I'll just take care of this myself!"

005 turned to the black shape. Even straining his sight he could not make out what it was. 005's eyes started to glow around the edges as he used telekinesis. He would throw this thing in the air and bash it into the ground for what it did...But...

_My powers! They're...They're not working!!!!! What is this...?_

Kieran realized it. _A Latios morph! And most of his attacks involve telekinesis! That means he won't be able to hit me that often!! And that also means I do double damageto him!_

Kieran leapt out of the shadows onto the frustrated and confused morph, biting hard into his shoulder. 005 gave a yell of pain and tried to throw the still unidentified Pokémon off of him. He wasn't very successful. Kieran put his front paws onto 005's shoulders and latched himself onto his back. But before he could snap his neck with his jaws, a Rocket who managed to separate himself from the all-out war came to help 005 and dislodged Kieran by hitting him forcefully with 5 inch-thick branch. The sheer force of impact snapped the branch clean in two. That sent Kieran flying, along with both pieces of the broken branch.

Gaby, Silversong and Seaflyer had all entered the battle, attacking with as much force as Lily (Which was saying something, seeing as most of the men were now afraid to go near her). But Rockets and Aqua rarely fight fair. While Gaby was attacking an Aqua, a fellow team member came up behind her and stabbed her in the back with a dagger. Gaby stopped mid-strike and fell down, the blade still in her. The two then started kicking the defenceless girl, causing her a lot of pain.

The others were too far away or too absorbed in a destructive state to help her. Kieran was battling furiously with 005, Lily was taking on 8 men at once in hand-to-hand combat, and Seth and Kip were both in triple Pokémon battles and kicking some serious ass. Seaflyer and Silversong were both having problems of their own, trying to cope with 10 Rockets at a time.

That left poor Gaby to be attacked brutally by these two. Their Psychic inhibitors were rendering her powers useless, with the wound in her back, she couldn't fight back at all.

Finally, Seth and Kip noticed. They were getting really frustrated. Rockets kept appearing out of nowhere, along with Aquas and now Magmas. Seeing Gaby being beat up finally made them crack.

"Ok, I'm pissed!!!!!!" Seth said. He took his remaining three Pokéballs and threw them into the air, releasing his remaining three. Kip did the same with his remaining two.

"Immobilize them, knock them out, kill them if you have to! I don't care what you do, just keep them busy!!!!!!!!!!"

The Pokémon started attacking the new wave of fiends fiercely. That left Kip and Seth free to help Gaby. But it was mass hysteria in front of them. Lily was now taking on 12, and Seaflyer and Silversong were dealing with 15 or more. Kieran and 005 were facing off, and they were getting more and more violent.

They bolted the scene, trying to dodge the battles. Right when they were about to make it, Kieran and 005 flew past them. Kip saw this before Seth did. He tackled Seth, forcing him to the ground as the battling pair soared over their heads. Another second and Seth would have been killed.

"Thanks," Seth said as they jumped up and continued their desperate run across the battles to Gaby. The two still beating upon a semi-limp Gaby were unaware of what was going on around them. Kip bolted forward and tackled one of the men, followed by Seth. Gaby was aware that she wasn't being kicked anymore and that the two boys were now trying to take down the adults twice their size. And that for some strange reason they were winning.

Seth was kicking madly at the man, choosing his strength over speed. In most scenarios, this wouldn't have worked, but it didn't really matter in this case because he was putting so much effort into the fight that he was winning.

Kip chose speed over strength, probably because he was smaller, younger, and less experience then Seth. Or because his opponent had incredible strength, but was too slow and stupid to do much with it. He rolled out of the way as the man lunged at him. He flung his leg out, tripping the man. Kip jumped back up again, and jumped on the man full weight in the stomach.

Seth was having a harder time now. The man was moving faster and overpowering him with his size advantage. The man threw a punch that knocked Seth clean off his feet. He landed and slid on the ground. The punch had left a big red mark on the side of his face that stung. Seth got to his feet again, facing the laughing man.

"Not so tough now that you've been hit, boy?" He said mockingly. Seth simply grinned.

"Oh...I don't know...Maybe you'd like to look behind you."

"I'm not that stupid. I won't fall for a cheap trick like that."

"Suit yourself," Seth said casually, shrugging. "Go ahead, Ironfight."

The man turned around and yelled as he saw the giant Aggron looming over him. With a bop on the head, the man was out cold. Seth pointed to Kip, who was having slight trouble with the man. He had lured him to the wall, and now Kip was trapped. Ironfight ran over, picked up the man just as he was about to make Kip see stars, and threw him into the throng.

"Great job! Now, let's go and help the rest. Ironfight, you and I will go help Lily. Kip, go help the Lugia."

"But what about Gaby?" Kip asked, looking for her. To his surprise, she was nowhere to be seen."

"There's nothing we can do about that now. Just go!"

Seth and his Pokémon ran off to help Lily, who was now practically buried under a pile of men. Ironfight charged through, scattering them. Lily jumped up and went back into a battle stance.

"Great idea!" She released her Pokémon to help. "Go get 'em, guys!" Lily's Pokémon charged off into the battle, taking most of her opponents away from her.

"What happened? Where's Kip and Gaby?" She asked Seth.

"Kip's fine, but Gaby's in real bad shape. We have to finish this now."

"That's not going to work. They're just teleporting more of them over here. At this rate we'll be battle for hours, maybe even days."

"We're not going to hold out that long."

"I know!"

"So what are we going to-"

"Look out!!!!"

Seth was cut off as one again Kieran and 005 flew past, blood flying. Lily pulled him out of the way to safety. Lily and Seth watched as the battle ensued. Kieran would be thrown repeatedly to the ground, but would disappear in Faint Attack and appear behind 005, attack, and send him flying. 005 would counter attack by whacking Kieran with his tail.

"It looks pretty even, doesn't it?" Seth said.

"We've got to help him!" Lily said.

"I don't think _we _can," Seth said, "But dark Pokémon might help!"

-----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Kip had went to help Silversong and Seaflyer. They were having a hard time, and Seaflyer would have been captured or dead already if it hadn't been for her brother. Of course, Seaflyer had helped out Silversong a lot too, but when they were each contending with 25 people at a time, it's hard to keep up.

"Seaflyer! What the hell are you waiting for?!?! Use Whirlwind! You too, Silversong!" Kip said. The two Lugia blinked and wondered why they hadn't thought of that.

Kip ran quickly through the men, dodging their attempts to catch him and jumped onto Silversong. Then the two Lugia flapped their wings madly, creating little tornadoes and carrying all the men away. They smiled at each other and Kip got down.

"So...Why didn't you do that before?" Kip asked.

"_Well...Uh...If you hadn't noticed, we had PEOPLE hanging off our wings?"_

"I guess that would be kinda hard...But how did you get them off?"

'_I guess they were startled by you. Or maybe the fact that we've been biting them off.'_

"Oh..." Kip said. He pitied the poor men that had been bitten off. Though he didn't see any limbs on the ground... "C'mon! Let's go help the others. Quickzap's having a good time. Look, he's zapping them! Ooh...That one isn't getting up... Oh, and Aurora's having fun! Hope they can swim!"

Lily and Seth were looking for their Dark Pokémon in the hundreds of Rockets and Aquas and Magmas. Finally spotting Lily's Murkrow, who was being attack with sticks and rocks since he was flying so high, Lily whistled for him to come down. Blackbeak came immediately. Then they continued, Blackbeak flying up above the rest in search for the Pokémon. It cawed when if found Darkfaller, who was viciously taking down multitudes of men and Pokémon in the defence of Kip's hurt Espeon, Psylight. Lily ran forward and took down a wave of men using her tail, either hitting them or scorching them away. Darkfaller stopped.

"How bad is the Espeon?" Seth asked. The Houndoom stamped and growled. "That bad?" The Houndoom nodded.

"What's up with the Espeon?" Lily asked.

"It's been hurt really badly...It needs to go back inside a ball."

"That's not an option. Just carry it or something! We need to help Kieran!"

"Right."

Seth picked up the fainted Espeon and carried it back to the battling pair. Kip riding on Silversong alongside Seaflyer arrived about 3 seconds after them.

"What's...PSYLIGHT!!!!!!!" Kip said, looking at his Espeon in horror. "Give her here!" Seth Obediently passed the pitiful Pokémon up over to Kip. He returned her.

"She would have been dead or captured if Darkfaller hadn't protected her so fiercely," Lily said.

"Great job, Darkfaller!" Kip said, looking at his Houndoom. "But...Why are you here?" Lily had forgotten: It was so dark outside, Kieran was nearly invisible to humans. That's why none of the Rockets were helping 5.

"Kieran's fighting 5, and we brought Dark Pokémon to help him."

"Great thinking. I'm coming too. You guys ready?"

'_Yes.'_

"_Let's bring that bastard down!!!!"_

They bolted in, Kip and Silversong crashing directly into 005. That sent him flying, but he levitated mid-air and righted himself.

"Well, if it isn't our soon to be 006!" 005 said, regarding Kip. "And the little runaway and...Oh, you have a girlfriend now! Congrats!"

"_I wouldn't get so cocky if I were you, bastard!"_

"Ah yes, little poetic Seaflyer. You've seemed so much cuter before!"

"_That's it, you're going DOWN!!!!!!!"_

"Seaflyer! No! Wait!" Kip tried to caution, but to no avail. Seaflyer lunged forward at that exact time, which was fortunate because the two other darks leapt at that instant as well. 005 was taken aback by the attack and was brought down. Seaflyer whacked him with her tail with so much force that 005 was sent 2 feet down into the ground. Blackbeak scratched him on the face, making a deep gash in his cheek. Darkfaller bit hard into 005's leg with Crunch, causing 5 to let out a strangled cry. They all cleared away as Kieran came bounding towards them. He pounced on 005 before he could make a move. 005 clenched his teeth as the pain hit him. He threw Kieran off of him and stood up, though how he was able to they couldn't figure out. He glared menacingly at them.

"This isn't over!" He said. Then, touching something on his, he and all the Team Members disappeared.

"Yeah!!!!! We did it!!!!!!!" Lily said, hugging Seth. Seth seemed somewhat surprised and Kip even more so. Seth hugged back. Lily broke away from Seth and turned to a panting but happy Mightyena. "Great job, Kieran! I never knew you could fight so well!" Kieran un-transformed so that he could answer.

"Thanks!" Kieran said. Lily gasped. He was in horrid shape. His face was covered in blood, as well as most of the rest of him. He was breathing heavily and his clothes were in tatters. A very large cut was across his torso, stretching with ease from his shoulder to his opposite hip.

"Kieran! How are you even still alive?!?" Kip asked. Kieran shrugged.

"I'll probably pass out in a minute or two."

"Wow...Look at the mess we made..." Lily remarked, looking at the battlefield. The once pleasant valley now resembled an abandoned war site.

"Wait...Where's Gaby?" Kieran asked. Lily noticed as well.

"Yeah, where is she? I thought she was with you!"

"Two guys were beating her up...Kip and I went to help. But when we knocked them out, she was gone."

"I'm r-right here, guys," Said a very soft and weak voice from behind them. They all wheeled around. There was Gaby, standing there, smiling faintly, every inch of her bruised and bloody. She fell to her knees and fell forward onto the ground. They all ran over to Gaby.

"G-Gaby!" Lily said. All the Pokémon had worked their way over to them, some carrying the unconscious of injured bodies of their comrades. Now there were all standing beside their severely injured friend. Gaby was breathing heavily. The blood was staining the white t-shirt she was wearing a horrible red-ish black colour, and they could tell that the knife wound had gone very deep.

"We need to get her into a cave or something," Lily said. "This looks bad..."

"Lily, this isn't just bad," Kieran said. "That's really, really deep. Another half inch and it's right into her stomach."

_Why are they so worried?_ Gaby asked from her unconsciousness. Only Silversong could hear.

'_Gaby, you're not fine,' _Silversong said. _'You're in serious trouble. This is the worst I've ever seen you.'_

_Oh, come on! It can't be worse then when I that giant Gyarados 'bumped' into me?_

'_Oh Gaby, I'm afraid it's much worse. Much, much worse.'_

_Oh._

Things had been going well for the group up until this point. Now their fortunes had taken a deadly turn: A turn that might kill one of them.


	35. Ch35:Treatments

Author's note: God, lay off the hatred! Ok, for those of you who liked it, go you! For those of you who liked it but couldn't find the fluff: it was longer before (15 pages. It's ten now) and that had fluff in it, so I had to cut it out. And for those of you who complained about the amount of people getting hurt: YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO'S HURT YET!!!!!! SO SHUT UP AND LET ME DO THE DAMAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, for the last group of you people who I despise totally (The people who hated the chapter): There are none of you, so I have nothing to complain about!

Thanks a bunch!

Me

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005 appeared in the lab, along with his team. 005 collapsed onto one knee while the rest of his team left the room, carrying the injured and dead with them. Dr. Sakio dropped what he was working on, as well as 004, and ran over to him.

"005! Say something!" Sakio said, bending down with 004 to look at his son.

"I'll be fine," 5 said, sounding frustrated.

"But you're not fine now," 004 said. "What happened?"

"Yes, and why did you need 200 men?" Sakio asked. "And what was that unidentified heat source?"

"Unidentified...?" 005 said in confusion. "You mean that thing that nearly killed me?"

"You were defeated?" 004 said in shock.

"I won't deny it, that thing had more power and skill in combat then I've ever seen, tying and maybe even surpassing 001."

"What was it?"

"I'm not sure. I think it was some kind of Pokémon. It was too dark to tell what it was. All I know is that it was a dark-type."

"That is troubling…" Said Dr. Sakio. "Did you complete your mission?"

"Yes and no. I erased Recover from the three, but I failed to bring Seth back. Hang on…That's when the thing attacked. When I tried to take Seth away, it come out of nowhere and set the others free. 001's friends attacked my men with themselves as well as Pokémon and the monster that released them took me on. I lost sight of 1…But I believe she's close to death. The inhibitors on the her Psychic powers proved too much for her and she was stabbed and kicked almost to death. The others I think are ok, except for my attacker. It has incredible endurance, but that does not mean it didn't get hurt."

"Father, I have a theory," 004 said after 005 had finished. "I think there are two possibilities here: 1, the runaways trained this dark-type to counter us, or there's something around that area or traveling with them that is a serious threat."

"Yes. I would have thought it to be a Pokémorph, but we don't have anything on record like that," 5 remarked.

"Unless it's a natural-born," Sakio said thoughtfully. The other two stared at him in confusion.

"Natural born? Are you saying that Pokémorphs can be born naturally?"

"Yes, though it's very rare. When something goes wrong in an embryo, the DNA can fix itself. If the DNA re-arranges itself back into it's regular DNA, then nothing unusual happens. But if the DNA is special, and we're talking REALLY rare here, the DNA will arrange itself to resemble a Pokémon's. If this happens, the DNA around it will assume that it solved the problem and change. That's one way to get a Natural born Pokémorph. The second way is to have a morph parent and inherit the gene. Again, highly unlikely. The third and final known way to get a Natural Born without using a lab at all is to be what people call 'Reincarnates'. These are people who not only have the incredible powers of a Pokémorph, but also have destinies. Some are destined to rule the world, others are meant to save it. People say they are the reincarnations of either a Pokémon itself or a Pokémorph. But one of those haven't been born for over…What, it has to be over a millennia."

"So, ruling out Saviors, we either have a parent Morph or a DNA screw up. Father, have you ever made any Pokémorphs other then us 5?" 005 asked. Sakio shook his head. But then his eyes widened.

"I haven't…But Giovanni might have. I was his last creation before he disappeared, but that was 30 years ago, when I was just a young boy. Before that…He might have. 005, do you have anything we can use as a DNA record finder that your attacker left on you?"

"Umm…Yeah, there's a couple hairs on me," 005 said, picking a long, black hair off of him. He handed it to his father, who took it to a computer. Inserting it in a slot, the hair was swallowed by the machine. Instantly tons of Data came up on the huge generated screen. It was all useless, but Sakio saw something strange on the panel. He touched it, and immediately a projected image came up.

"It's Giovanni!" Sakio said, looking at the projection. Then it began to speak.

"_If this is playing, it means you have found Experiment 'Mightyena'. If this James I'm speaking to, then congratulations. You've found my 4th hidden experiment. By voice recognition, state your name."_

"James Sakio."

"_Analyzing…Confirmed. Dr. Sakio, you have found my 4th experiment, the Mightyena morph. Analyzing DNA from hair…Accessing files…Dr. Sakio, you will now be able to read classified information concerning this DNA. When you are finished reading, press the video activation button again to hear the next message."_

With that, Giovanni disappeared and the generated screen showed new information. A computer female read aloud:

"DNA Matches part A of Experiment Mightyena, Tynan Takeshi. Experiment 4 of Giovanni. 26 year old male. Origin: unknown. Present location: unknown. Last known location: Azalea Town, Johto Region. DNA was manipulated to be a Mightyena morph. Escaped and was never seen again. However, this DNA is altered. Searching data banks for type B match up…"

The computer scanned the files, hacking into government computers to find the information. In about a minute, the voice spoke again.

"DNA Match up part B of human Leiko Takeshi. 24 year old female. Origin: Olivine City, Johto Region. Present location: Unknown. Last known location: Azalea Town, Johto Region. DNA Match complete."

"So…We've found their kid. Do you think it could have been a Mightyena that attacked you, 005?"

"Definitely."

"But…Hang on," 004 said, calling up a different file. Her fingers flew across the controls as she searched hundreds of files, her eyes scanning the information with the speed and intelligence of a computer, a great and very useful unintentional side affect she had inherited when she became a Pokémorph. "There's no sign of any children…No birth records, nothing! Not even the government knows this thing exists!"

"Something's nagging at me…" 005 said suddenly. "Two part DNA match-up…That means there has to be a child. But something's not right…The government keeps a birth record of every single person on the planet. So either we have a ghost on our hands, or this person was never registered."

"Very strange…Well, let's hear what Giovanni has to say," Sakio said, hitting the button again. Giovanni appeared once more.

"_Dr. Sakio…I have left you with my trusted equipment and lab. So I believe that if you have found my 4th experiment, I can tell you this. Gather the DNA of the other 9. You are one of them. Gather a small DNA sample and use the machine labeled GCD, the Genetic Code Detector. Fit them in as follows: 3,9,4,8,2,7,1,6,5,10. Then you will receive another message. Do this and you will be rewarded with the greatest weapon ever created. Good luck."_

With that the message cut off. Sakio stood up and smiled.

"005, go rest. 004, keep working of the machine. We have a lot of work to do."

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_Run…Have to get away!  
_

_I'm running…From what? What's behind me? Lily? Seth? Kip? Kieran? Anyone?_

_Wait…What's that sound? It sounds angry. What is it? It's huge!!!_

_Why is so cold all of a sudden? Someone, anyone, Help!!!!_

Gaby tossed and turned in her unconsciousness, her face dripping in cold sweat. The had managed to move her into a small cave along the other side of the cliff. Lily had flown out to go get Kieran, seeing as it took their combined efforts to lift Gaby and move he without doing any more damage. Without the Recover move in any of the Pokémon, they had to rely on Kieran's medical expertise. Unfortunately, he was in bad shape too (Though not nearly as bad as Gaby, who was very close to entering a coma), so he wasn't much help. Now they had Seth, who, thankfully, had sustained only minor injuries. Neither Lily or Kip had that much experience with medical treatment.

Lily came back to the anxiety-filled cave at that moment, carrying a limp, unconscious, and bloody Kieran on her back. Gently she lowered him to the ground on the side of the cave opposite to Gaby.

"Any change?" Lily asked once Kieran had been wrapped in a blanked Kip had found in his bag.

"Yeah. Worse," Seth said. He was currently sitting next to Gaby's 'bed', a sleeping bag with a blanket on top. Seth crawled over to Kieran to assess the damage. Lily sat down to Kip in what resembled a 'waiting room'.

"Well, the good news is he probably won't die," Seth said. "He's much better off then Gaby, though I think there's a few broken bones and fractures in his right leg. He's covered in deep cuts, but nothing his body can't handle. He'll be awake in a couple hours. And you guys?" He asked the Pokémon. Surprisingly the cave had enough room to support 4 out of 6 of all their Pokémon, assuming they weren't too large. Most of the Pokémon nodded, having only received small cuts, scrapes, and minor burns, which were already healing. However, Psylight still was barely conscious, Red had a hole through his wing, Silversong and Seaflyer had sustained minor injuries, Sparks had a slash across his side, and Nightflyer was suffering from a broken ankle. On the contrary, Aurora and Quickzap had no scratches and had gained a lot of experience in the battle, making their experience soar.

"_The usual. Psylight's getting better, though," _Seaflyer said. Kip relayed the message back to Seth. It was their only communication system between all of the Pokémon. Seth smiled at the news.

"That's a relief. Darkfaller?"

"He's ok," Kip said, not waiting for Seaflyer's response. He was laying next to Kip, half-asleep as Kip petted him.

"And you two?" Seth asked the only two other people in the cave.

"I'm fine," Kip said. He had gotten off easy, with only a cut on his cheek and a bruise in chest.

"I'll be ok in a day or two," Lily said. She, on the other hand, had fought off a small army of Rockets. But, thanks to her street-born fighting skills, she had taken most of them down without too much difficulty. Her injuries consisted of mostly bruises and a cut on the forehead. "You, Seth?"

"Well, I would have been dead if you guys hadn't pulled me out of the way twice, so I guess I'm pretty ok," He replied. He had, like Kip, gotten off easy and only had to recover from bruises and a gash in his arm.

"Now what?" Lily asked quietly.

"Um...Wait for someone to get better so that they can go get medical supplies?" Seth said. "Kip, where's the nearest town?"

"I'll check," He replied, taking out the Pokénav-thing and checking their location. "I think we're somewhere south of…Lavaridge. Hey, Vedanturf is only 4 miles from here. If I ride someone, I could be back by midnight!"

"Sounds like a plan...Alright, take Dragonsong and go," Seth ordered. He nodded, returning Darkfaller just in case he needed him. Then a though struck him.

"Hey, why don't I take all the Pokémon with me and heal them at the Pokémon Center?"

"Great idea! Only...You can only carry 6 Pokémon at a time, and Seth needs to stay here," Lily said. "And I can't go into a Center without causing a panic..."

"Easy! You wait somewhere outside and hand me the Pokémon when I get out. Then, while that batch is healing, you go back and get more and we just continue until we're done!"

"And you came up with that in 15 seconds?" Seth said, amazed. Kip looked rather annoyed at this comment.

"Back off," He said. Seth shrugged.

"Ok, whatever. Take Psylight, Darkfaller, Silversong and Seaflyer...Oh wait, that won't work. Well you're not to bad anyway...Ok, take Red, Sparks, Trouble and Nightflyer. Lily, take Quickzap, Flyer, Mystify, Ironfight, Rocker and BraveWing. As to the rest, I can patch them up when Lily brings back the medical supplies. Let's just hope nothing bad happens until then."

"Ok! Guys, return!" Kip and Lily said, returning the necessary Pokémon and leaving the cave, waving goodbye to Seaflyer and Silversong, who were at the entrance acting as guards.

Soon Lily and Kip were out of sight, and Seth returned to work, hoping that nothing more went wrong in this day of hell.

Suddenly, a small moan drew him back to reality. He bolted to the back of the cave and saw Kieran stirring, moaning in his sleep. Seth got down on one knee and waited for Kieran to wake up. He did, and immediately his Pokémon instincts took over and he began thrashing and attempting to attack Seth. He pinned him down to his makeshift bed.

"KIERAN! CALM DOWN! IT'S ME, SETH!"

Kieran stopped thrashing, blinked, and looked up at Seth who he had thrown off of him and was sitting next to him, half sitting, half sprawled on the floor.

"Kieran, you beat 005! You won! You're going to be fine!"

"I won?" Kieran said, forgetting his pain completely and letting go of his leg. His eyes returned to their normal grey.

"Yes! You sent him running home with his tail between his legs, along with all of his comrades!" Seth continued, seeing this having a good effect on his patient.

"So I'm the hero?" Kieran said, his mind clearing.

"I suppose so..." Seth considered.

"So...Where is everybody?" Kieran asked, ignoring the dull throbbing in his leg. Seth had magically put some paralysis powder on his leg while he had been talking, dulling the pain to a strange throbbing.

"Well, Kip and Lily flew off to Verdanturf to heal the Pokémon and get medical supplies, the rest of the Pokémon are sleeping and are relatively ok, and Gaby..."

"What? Where's Gaby?" Kieran asked, seeing the look of intense worry on Seth's face.

"She's...Kieran, don't be too shocked by this, but she's close to death."

"WHAT THE HELL?!!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!" Kieran exclaimed, sitting up violently and looking around, searching for Gaby. He saw her form outlined against the wall, thrashing helplessly.

"Kieran, can you help me with her? I'm pretty good with Medical stuff, but Gaby's way too advanced for me. Do you know anything that'll help her?"

"Water, crushed Oran berries, and Mystery berries mixed together at a boiling point will stop the hallucinations and settle her down," Kieran said. Seth marveled at the quick response of the younger boy.

"But...I don't think we have any Oran berries. Mystery berries and water are no problem, but Oran..."

"Rai!" Came a sudden response from the corner. The Raichu was nodding and, after it looked at Seth for a approval, ran out of the cave to find some of these Oran berries that would help Gaby.

"Ok, for the blood...?" Seth said. Kieran, amazingly, lifted himself up onto one arm and crawled his way to Gaby. Unfortunately, she was on her back and thrashing wildly, mumbling words Seth couldn't make out. But Kieran could, and he was surprised at what he was hearing.

"No...Stop...Please, don't take him!!! !!"

"We need to get her on her stomach to look at the main injury," Seth said, completely unaware of what Kieran was hearing. "Um...And..."

"What?" Kieran said, drawn out of Gaby's rambling for a moment.

"Uh...You know..."

"I don't really follow you," Kieran said, looking at Seth in confusion.

"Well, the bloods stained the shirt so much, and she's covered in dirt, so there's a risk of infection if we don't...But I don't think it can wait."

"Seth, what the hell are you talking about?!" Kieran asked, totally lost. Why did Seth look so nervous?

"God, why did Lily have to go?" Seth moaned.

"DAMMIT SETH, WHAT ARE YOU GOING ON ABOUT?!?!?!?" Kieran said very loudly. The Pokémon left were sniggering because _they _had figured it out already. Kieran turned to them. "WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!?!"

This had the opposite effect Kieran was looking for and caused them to laugh. Kieran, fuming, turned to Seth, who was blushing fiercely at the prospect.

"Seth...Find it within your intelligence to tell me in small words what everyone thinks is so funny?" Kieran asked slowly, making sure Seth heard him. Seth turned more red. He didn't know which was worse: doing the task or explaining it to an 12-year-old.

"Well...You see...We need to...Uh..." Seth said. "Why did Lily have to go?"

"What are you..." Kieran said, but suddenly broke off when he finally realized what Seth was talking about. He burst out laughing, clutching his stomach, rolling around on the cave floor.

"What's so funny?" Seth asked.

"The...Fact...That...You're...The...One...Who...Has...To...Do...It!!!!" Kieran said between fits of laughter.

But he never had to, because at that moment, Lily re-entered the cave, carrying a bunch of medical supplies, to the greeting of the two boys, one rolling around laughing his head off, and the other blushing wildly and trying to think of any other possible way to get out of it. When he saw Lily, he jumped up and almost killed her with a hug.

"Seth...What...The...?" Lily said, gasping for air as Seth suffocated her, to the enjoyment of Kieran.

"LILY, YOU ARE A SAVIOR!!!!!" Seth said, releasing his hold on the Charizard-Morph.

"O...K..." Lily said slowly, talking a small step back from the happy Seth.

"You'll be laughing your head off when he tells you what he almost had to do..." Kieran said, suppressing giggles.

"What?" Lily said, confused. She automatically looked at Seth for the answers.

"Uh...You see, Gaby's shirt is a bit torn up and bloody..."

"More then a bit, but yeah, go on."

"And there's a risk of infection, so if you'd kindly change her into something else..."

Lily blinked once, cracked into a smile, and joined Kieran on the floor in laughter. 2 minutes later, when she had finally stopped laughing enough to stand up again and talk, she simply beamed.

"And you were going to have to...Oh, poor you! Ok, if you two could just leave..."

"Right!" They said, leaving the cave to go stand at the entrance. Lily sighed and turned to Gaby. Boys...

5 minutes later, Lily called for the boys to come back in, a grave expression on her face. Seeing this, Kieran immediately limped back inside the cave to have a look at her knife wound. Lily and Seth waited outside the cave, much like family or friends waiting to hear news. During the wait, Quickzap returned with a bunch of Oran berries and bounded back inside, disappearing in the dark of the tunnel.

"So...From what you saw, how bad was it?" Seth asked.

"Which do you mean, the bruises, knife wound, or blood loss?" Lily said. "'Cause all of 'em are really bad."

They waited in silence until Kieran came out again about half an hour later. The both got up from where they had been sitting, anxious.

"Well, I wish I could say it's not as bad as I thought, but I can't," Kieran said. "She's black and blue all over, the wound's as bad as it can get without killing her vital organs too much, she's lost way more blood loss then healthy in a worst-case-scenario, and she's bleeding internally. I've managed to bandage up the worst of it, put some stuff on that should help with the bruising, and made her drink something that may calm her down and stop the internal bleeding...Oh, and did I mention she's running a fever of about 103f?"

"This is bad...I mean, how many people live through being stabbed, kicked, bloodied, smashed, crumpled, internal bled, ha-"

"STOP!!!" Lily shouted. Both boys looked at her. "Just...Stop. Let me go tell Kip the report. I doubt he'll be very happy with this news."

"Poor guy..." Kieran said. The others nodded. Lily turned around and flew off. Seth and Kieran returned inside, finding Gaby relatively calm and clean, dressed in a maroon shirt Lily had.

"Kieran, I better check you out," Seth said, trying to take his mind off the predicament they were all facing. "Your leg...How does it feel?"

"I'm not what matters. Gaby's the problem," Kieran said. Seth nodded.

"I agree that Gaby's a problem, but we're a team, so just shut up, sit down, and let me do something for that leg of yours," Seth said determinedly.

-----

Ok Lostsight & Inu-Yasha, you've grown on me and now you've got me doing this! DAMN YOU! Oh well, here's the new thing:

PREVIEW!

Lily: _Gaby's getting worse, and Kip knows something we don't!!! What does he mean, something's worse going on then her injuries in her mind?!_

Seth: _And why the hell are the Psychics acting weird?! Not to mention Gaby and Kip!_

Lily: _I hope this doesn't sound as bad as Kip says!!!_

Lily and Seth: Next time on Gorotsuki Hasseigaku: Nightmare, Part 1!

(That's Gorotsuki Hasseigaku is Rogue Genetics in Japanese, for all those who don't know!)

And...I've wrote it, read it, added to it, read it, read is some more, and re-re-re read it, and it's finally done!! What the hell am I talking about? Why, Gorotsuki Hasseigaku: Aka Chishio Kage no Kiokuryoku!!! What did I just say? 'Rogue Genetics: Blood Red Shadows of Memories!! Still wondering? It's Rogue Genetics...THE FIRST MOVIE!!!!!! So be sure to read it, or you'll miss important information!!!!! Just think of it as a big section of the regular RG, only cooler, better, and with a theme song! SO DON'T FORGET TO READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks,

Ryu


	36. Ch36:Nightmare, Part I

Author's note: EEEEKKKKKKKKKK! WRITER'S BLOCK FOR EVERYTHING! But...I...Think...I...Magically...Cured...It! Creepy...I got the inspiration for this while listening to the Shaman King theme song...NORTHERN LIGHTS! AWESOME!

Onward!

Ok! My first REAL three-parter: Nightmare, part I, II, and III! Anyway, I thank you all for your reviews, and I explain that the last chapter was merely to give you the damage report and set up for these next chapters. Um...About Seth...((Tries to keep a straight face but fails horribly)) I COULDN'T HELP IT! IT WAS JUST TOO DAMN GOOD OF AN OPPORTUNITY! Grins evilly And I was gonna make him do it, too...But I thought that was just TOO cruel. And a thousand pardons, I PROMISE that there shall be at least a little fluff in either the next or the third part. This one is more of a set-up...READ CAREFULLY.

AND READ THE MOVIE! AND REVIEW!

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Lily landed in the dark ally outside the Pokémon Center, mentally preparing for the task ahead: Informing Kip of the damage.

Cautiously peering around the building to make sure no one saw, she quickly released Quickzap from his ball. Quickzap shivered from the cold night air, but leapt off to find his master in the Center. Lily waited with anxiety, trying to come up with a way to tell Kip the damage without him going psycho on her. But by the time Quickzap came back with his master, who had all the Pokémon healed, she hadn't thought of anything. Kip, however, had a very pained look on his face, and his eyes were not their usual dark green, but a sea green. He looked like he was experiencing something very frightening, like a waking nightmare.

"Kip? KIP!" Lily asked as he nearly fell over. Lily caught him and let go just in time as Quickzap did the only sensible thing an electric mouse Pokémon will do when it sees its master in a trance: Electrocute it. The vicious Thunderbolt attack struck Kip, drawing his friend out of his trance very forcefully. Kip fell sideways onto the ally wall, panting and sweating. Lily grabbed his shoulders and set him straight. He had his regular dark, shining green eyes back, but they still looked fearful and panicked.

"What's wrong?" Lily said in a soft, calming tone. Kip shook his head, clearing his thoughts straight enough so that he could speak.

"Gaby...Something's...Really...Wrong..." He blurted, organizing his thoughts enough to manage that statement.

"Yes, I know. The wound in Gaby's back is horrible, and she's bleeding internally, and in big trouble. She's near death, and..."

"What!" Kip exlaimed. That had jolted his brain, the words 'Gaby' and 'Death' in the same sentence. His expression turned traumatized, looking like he could burst into tears any second. "No...Not on top of this..."

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked cautiously.

"Her mind...Those wounds are nothing compared to what's going on _inside_."

"Are you telling me she's going psycho in her mind and it's WORSE then the injuries?" Lily said, desperately hoping the answer was no. Sadly, her hopes were crushed.

"Yes."

"So she...She sent out a telepathic communication and asked for help?"

"Something like that."

"Kip, what did you see?"

"Gaby...Was standing there, in the dark...I yelled out, and she turned my way. Her face was bloody, and there was a long slash across her cheek, and her eyes were like a really light blueish-green..."

"Your eyes turned that colour right now, before Quickzap electrocuted you."

"Right...And I just could feel her fear. She's never been this scared. And her face just told me she was asking for help." Kip's eyes suddenly widened with a realization that Lily did not share, though she was very disturbed by Kip's statements. "Lily...We really need get back to her. Now."

"Alright. You've got all the Pokémon healed?"

"YES! Now just go!"

Lily returned the electric mouse Pokémon. Kip jumped onto her back and she took off, flying at such speeds that those standing below her simply saw a blue and orange streak in the sky. In about 5 minutes (on a journey that usually took 15-20) they had reached the cave. Kip jumped off Lily's back while she was still in the air, landed hard, got up, and ran into the cave. However, he ran into Seaflyer, who was inside the cave now.

"Seaflyer...?" Kip said, getting up after he bounced off the soft, slick feathers of his companion. "How did you...?"

"She and Silversong are in here now," Came the reply. However, it came from Seth, not Seaflyer. "Something's wrong with them." Lily finally got to them, at a jogging pace. She stopped before she hit Seaflyer.

"What the...?" She asked. Seth repeated the answer.

"And I know what," Kip said. "Where's Gaby!"

"Over there," Kieran said, pointing to the corner that Gaby was occupying. Kip bolted over to her, kneeling down at her side.

"Kip had a temporary mind link with Gaby," Lily explained. "It seems something's messing her up from inside her head. It sounds fatal. Whatever it is, it's sure as hell the scariest thing Gaby's ever experienced."

"Gaby, wake up! It's just a nightmare!" Kip said from the corner, shaking Gaby gently. Her breathing was quick and sharp, her eyes screwed up in pain and fright. She was thrashing again now, sweating all over,the silent terror of a trapped mind. Kip was nearly in tears with frustration. "Please..."

"Uh...I feel weird..." Lily said suddenly. She was glowing, as were Seth, Kieran, Gaby, and the two Lugia. Actually, everything was glowing now, but them especially. Kip was the only thing not glowing.

_Is Gaby sending out Psychic waves in her coma? _Seth thought in bewilderment. _Is that what's effecting us?_

"Gaby...I just want you to wake up...Please..." Kip said, his hands balling into fists. He closed his eyes, fighting away tears. "PLEASE!"

((A friendly reminder to READ MY GOD DAMNED MOVIE! Thank you.))

Suddenly Kip was glowing brightly, a Psychic energy blowing around him. Seth realized at that moment that it wasn't just Gaby, but Kip's will. She was amplifying his telekinetic abilities with her last remaining part of her conscious will, and he was controlling the new power. Suddenly the cave glowed to a blinding swell, forcing them to close their eyes. Then they all slipped into unconsciousness.

Lily sat up, rubbing her head. It was throbbing very painfully. But as she opened her eyes, she lost all feeling of pain by the pure amazement of where she was.

She was in her old city...The busy city she had found herself in when she had first awoken. Peoplebustled by her, not paying any mind to her at all. She looked around in confusion.

_What's happening? The last thing I remember was Kip glowing and then blacking out...But how did I get here?_

"Hey!" She said to a passer-by. "Uh, hello!" She said as he walked past her. "Jerk...Hey! Um, excuse me miss, but..." But the woman walked right past.

"What's with these people?" She wondered aloud, annoyed. It was like they couldn't see her...She held her hand up in front of her face. It was half transparent. Panicked, she looked at her reflection in a shop window...At least, where he reflection _should _have been. Instead there was nothing.

"I...I'm invisible!" She said. Tentatively she touched the shop glass...And fell right through it! She wildly tried to regain her balance, succeeded, and sighed. Only two questions ran through her mind: What the hell was going on and why the hell was she here?

((Another friendly reminder telling you to READ THE MOVIE.))

Seth awoke. He was in a strangely familiar place...He opened his eyes and gazed around. He stopped dead when he realized where he was.

He was in his old bedroom at the Lab. The same stuff on the shelves, the same colour of the walls, everything was like it had been...8 years ago!

He jumped up. His body felt very light, and his roomed seemed small. He walked around his room, examining it. The Pokémon posters, the texbooks, chapterbooks, and old picture books that lay strewn on the floor and all over the shelves, everything was perfect. When he came across the mirror, however, he stopped dead in his tracks.

He was 8 years old again. He was a lot shorter, at least 3 feet. His hair was longer, his bangs slightly shorter. He was wearing his old pyjamas and had white socks on his feet. His hair was messy like he had been sleeping for a long time.

"What the hell is going on here!" He said. His voice was a lot higher then it had been. This was definitely weird...Was he dreaming or something?

"Seth? Seth, are you awake?"

The door opened, and Dr. Sakio appeared in the doorway, his face confused. When he saw Seth, he beamed and walked over. "You're up out of bed!"

"G-Get away from me!" Seth screamed, backing away. James Sakio stopped.

"What's wrong, Seth?"

"Evil...You evil...How...What have..." Questions raced through Seth's mind. What the hell was going on here? His father looked younger...He would have only been about 29 then...What was he saying, 'then'? This was all a trick...But...Why?

"Seth...You were out with a fever for a week. But thanks you Mom's medicine, you're up!" He smiled warmly and laughed. "I'm just surprised it actually worked!"

"Wha-" He cut off when he heard the word 'Mom'. "M-Mom?" He said disbelievingly.

"Yeah, Mom's been worried sick about you."

"What's going on? How did I get here? What did you DO to me?" Seth shouted.

"Your fever must have gotten to your head," James said worriedly. "Would you like me to call your mother?"

"SHE'S DEAD!" Seth screamed. "SHE'S BEEN DEAD FOR 8 YEARS!"

"You're stillreally sick. Guinevere! Seth's awake!" Seth's father yelled. A young woman came through the doorway, and Seth nearly fainted in shock.

"M...Mom?" Seth said blankly, stupefied. The woman was tall, around 5'9" with long red and black streaked hair that fell down to her waist and was tied in a braid. She had a slim figure and was wearing a lab coat, and underneath were jeans and a light purple fancy short sleeved shirt. Black bangs fell in front of stunning green eyes. She looked around the age of 28.

"Seth!" She said happily, running towards him and picking him up. "You're awake! We've been so worried about you. Your temperature was running so high, but my herbal cure brought it down!"

"Guinevere, you never fail to amaze me," James said, looking at his wife affectionately.

Seth just stayed there in his supposedly dead mother's arms. How could this be? She had been dead for 8 years...But...Had those 8 years really happened? He mother was alive, and that flash of light...Maybe he had just woken up from his fever.

"Mom..." He said, hugging her neck._ That was all just a dream..._

Kieran awoke suddenly, jumped up panic-stricken, and looked around. He was alone in a forest, and it was night. He reached for his waist, and found that his Pokéballs were still there. He looked around again. The forest seemed familiar, strangely enough. How he had gotten here or where the others werewas beyond comprehension, but he would have to move to find out.

He began walking very stealthily and silently through the forest. His heart was pounding, but he tried to remain calm. He didn't dare call out; his instincts told him not to. He continued quietly until he came upon a scene that froze him to the spot.

He had stumbled across a clearing. In the center, a gang of Houndour, Houndoom, Poochyena, and Mightyena, were cornering some small figure, pushing it closer and closer to the lake that stood in the middle of the clearing. The small figure was hurriedly backing away from the gang of 4 dark types, and suddenly Kieran could understand what they were saying.

"You little punk! Did you actually think you belonged here?" Said a male voice, adult and deep.

"Yeah! What were you thinking, you little halfbreed mongrel!" Said a high-pitched male voice.

"We want you out of our forest for good, you little discrace!" Said a female voice, high-pitched as well.

"Get out. You're not wanted, halfbreed." Said the fourth and final voice, an adult female.

"I-It's not my fault!" Said the shaky voice of a young boy, no older then 6. "I didn't mean..." This voice sounded strangely familiar...

"Shut up you little bastard!" Said the adult male, probably belonging to the Houndoom.

"Yeah, we won't have to worry about you anymore!" Said the high-pitched male voice, probably belonging to the Houndour.

"You're gonna sink to the bottom of the water, and we'll make sure you don't come back up!" Said the high female voice cheerfully, probably belonging to the Poochyena.

"NOW!" Said the female voice, presumably belonging to the Mightyena. The Poochyena suddenly ran forward and sent the small form flying through the air and into the dark water with a splash, and the attacker followed and drug it down to the bottom of the lake. But Kieran had caught sight of the young boy and was shocked.

Without a second thought he dove into the dark water, swimming as fast as he could to the bottom of the emmensly deep lake. He could barely make out the boy, and he couldn't see the Poochyena at all in the black murkiness. He realized his human form would be too slow, so he quickly transformed. Now he could see clearly through the muck, and he caught up with the murderous Pokémon. He was loosing air, and the figure the Poochyena was holding down was lifeless, eyes closed. In a sudden spur of rage, Kieran drove his head down on the Poochyena, knocking her unconscious. He grabbed both kidnapper and captive as soon as he transformed back, swimming as fast as he could to get back to the surface before he himself was waterlogged.

He broke the surface and gasped for air. The three Pokémon on the shore were fighting a fourth figure, what looked like a small Mightyena. They were loosing badly. The Mightyena dodged and attacked ferociously, as though fighting for it's life. It wasn't, however. The other three were apparently very weak bullies and were easily being tossed asside like rag dolls. Kieran paddled with one arm over to shore and deposited his catch the bank. The Poochyena opened it's eyes, blinked, jumped up and ran away with the others who were retreating from the attacking foe with their tails between their legs.

Kieran looked at the small figure beside him. His heart nearly stopped beating.

It was him. It was him when he was little. The same wolf-like ears poked from underneath his longer, dirty jet-black hair. The same long, black furry tail poked out from where his tailbone was, and the same furry three-toed, claw tipped feet replaced normal once. He was wearing rags, worn and ripped in several places. But there was no denying it; by some twist of nature, this was him.

Suddenly the boy opened his eyes. The same grey orbs with a tinge of red around them started at him, and the mini-Kieran jumped up, panic-stricken. The small Mightyena stood beside him, ready to attack if necessary. The older Kieran stood up, and the two simply stared at each other, and the Mightyena just stood there, dumbfounded. The 6-year-old Pokémorph's mind was overrun by questions as to who this older look-alike was, and the 'real' Kieran had the same questions. The Mightyena was wondering why this person had the same scent as his friend beside him. Finally, after a long silence, they both said at the same time:

"Who are you?"

They both looked startled not at the question, but more at the fact that they had both said it at exactly the same time. The younger one cautiously approached the 13 year old.

"You look familiar...Do you want to kill me too?" He asked. Kieran (the older one) looked blankly back at himself.

"I...I think I'm you..." He said.

"You didn't answer my question. DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME?" He said slowly and simply. Now the older Kieran was sure: This HAD to be him.

"No...Considering I just saved your life from those guys," He jerked his thumb at the direction the Gang had retreated. "Who were they, anyway?"

"They're the Black gang that runs these woods. They've always bullied me and attacked me, but this the second time they've actually tried to kill me. And they probably would have if you...Whoever you are...Hadn't come along."

"I told you, I'm Kieran!"

"No way. I'M Kieran."

"Prove it."

"This is my brother, Prowler." He said. Kieran gaped. That had been _his _Mightyena's name until recently. "Now prove that _you're _not an impostor!"

Kieran reached for a black Pokéball that hung at his waist and threw it into the air. Out came Kokuei, the younger Mightyena's adult form. The younger form and the older form of both humanoid and Pokémon stared at the two nearly identical Pokémon (other then size). Then they turned and stared at their brothers blankly, as if asking for an explanation.

"I don't have one to give you, Bro," older Kieran said to Kokuei, apparently reading his mind.

"Me neither," Said the younger form to his. "I guess that makes him really me. But how..."

"I have absolutely no idea."

Kip awoke and a cold, hard floor. He opened his eyes, registered what he was seeing, and sat bolt upright.

He was floating on a piece of black metal in a sea of purple and black swirling nothingness. Strange sounds and voices came from around him, some human, some Pokémon, and some like nothing he'd ever heard before. He turned around, but it was the same on all sides. He looked up: Same. He didn't want to look down, but tried anyway. There appeared to be something below him, but it was so far away he couldn't tell what.

As he sat there, he tried to remember the last thing that had happened before he had blacked out. Then he remembered.

"Gaby..." He said try to say, but nothing came out. Startled, he tried to speak again. _I...I don't have a voice, _he thought in a mixture of shock and bewilderment. _Where's Gaby and everyone, and where am I?_

Suddenly the floor beneath him disappeared, and he fell down. He yelled, but still nosound escaped from him. About 20 feet from the long black platform beneath him, he slowed down gently and landed with a slight bump on the same kind of polished black metal substance he had been on moments before.

He was now on a very long path, surrounded now by blue and black colors of nothingness. It was more speckled then swirled now. He was at the end of the runway, and on either side of him, voices giggled, made strange noises, or spoke in mostly foreign languages. He began to walk slowly down the path, looking around him. Some voices were newborns, some were merely children, some adults or old. Some belonged to animals and Pokémon, while still others spoke with accents. The path seemed endless, but suddenly a white figure appeared before him.

It was an old man, wearing long white robes that were dragging on the floor but showed no dirt or sign of being used. He had a long, flowing white beard that came down the middle of his chest and long, silvery white, scraggily hair. Wrinkled, pale skin proved that he was old, but his eyes showed a knowingness and seemed to flicker with blue fire.

"Welcome," he said, in a surprisingly strong voice. Kip tried to answer, but still no sound came out of his mouth. The old man smiled. "In this place, you use your mind, not your body, to portray yourself. Telekinesis, I believe your kind calls the gift."

_Thank you for the welcome, but where is here? _Kip thought.

"You have been transported inside this dimension." He answered in a flowing voice.

_I don't understand. Where are we? _Kip asked again. The strange old man gave a small laugh.

"You are here! Everywhere! The realm of the living, and the realm of the spirit! The subconscious of the universe."

_Sir, Idon't understand!_

"You do not need to know. It is irrelevant. Please, I shall try to answer the many questions in your mind, but organize them for me."

_How did I get here? Where are my friends? Where's Gaby? Are they all safe?_

"Slow down, boy!" The old man laughed. "You were transported here by your own will. Your friend Gaby found your awakened power and amplified it. Your friends were transported into her mind, whereas you, who ran out of energy to complete the transfer yourself, were taken here, to the bridge between the spirit and the living realm."

_Does that mean I'm dead?_

"No. You're body is still intact, but you must remain here for a while, until your body recovers from the ordeal it underwent. It's not easy transporting 3 consciousnesses into one mind, you know. And that answers your second question as well: Their souls are inside Gaby. Gaby herself is fighting an internal battle between her memories, her soul, and the great evil that threatens her existence."

_And their safety?_

The old man turned grave. "Your friends, with the exception of Gaby, are trapped in an illusion which they are trying to understand. For one, they have already gotten past the exploration stage and gone into the window where they have an opportunity to interact with the things around them while they still know themself. One is exploring the past world where they will relive something in a world they cannot change. And the third is trapped in a fantasy where they no longer know who they are."

_And I'm here, and I can interact here and I still know who I am. But Gaby...?_

"I shall show you."

He turned and started gliding away. Kip followed. They passed flashes of images: a large white room, a brick building, the bottom of the sea, a forest, a park; they were beyond counting. Flashes of faces, Pokémon, everything. He continued to follow the man, until he came to a door. The man stepped aside, and Kip, feeling that this was like destiny, opened the door.

* * *

And I leave you with a cliffy.

READ THE MOVIE. NOW. I COMMAND YOU. READ OR I SHALL SEND FORTH MY ARMY OF DOMO'S. I am not to be trifled with. I have an unlimited army of the small brown dudes ready to eat you and tear you to shreds at a single word from me and/or their great leader, the mysterious masked Domo!

Preview:

Kip: What's happening to me? My body, my mind, my very soul is changing!

Kieran: What's going on? How did I get to this strange parallel universe?

Lily: Is...Is that me? But...No, it can't be!

Kip: Wait...It's...GABY! What's wrong with her?

Kip, Kieran, and Lily: Next time on Rogue Genetics: Nightmare, Part II!

And now, review responses for the last 3 chapters:

Ch33:The Criminals Three

Hazy Aura: Yes, I suppose that WAS a bit random...Oh well! Patch got saved anyways!

happyham: And I am very glad to have inspired you and I am honoured that you read my story.

Linkmaster27: Yes, it was a pretty good chapter...And the scientists came back...

Demon-Slayer13: Is fluff crack to you or something? And Seth is happy about the hug.

Ch34:A Battle of Wills:

Hazy Aura: Yay! I have passed my reviewer's test! Good for me!

VoidMoon: YYYYYAAAAAAAYYYYYYY! MY PERSONAL HERO CONGRATULATED

ME! Say hi to Venusaur for me, will you?

Demon-Slayer13: I've been writing a lot of action chapters lately...Well not lately, seeing as how I haven't been writing ANYTHING...I'm TRYING to make Kip a better character, and this next chapter will help tremendously...

Act: The ACT and GAC shall be revealed later in the series...OR IN THE MOVIE, IF ALL YOU PEOPLE WOULD KINDLY READ IT! And your spelling is a hell of a lot better then mine...I would DIE without the automatic spellchecker.

Linkmaster27: YES I FIND THAT FUN SO BUG OFF, WILL YOU? I DON'T MEAN THAT SORRY. SEE THE OPENING NOTE ABOUT THE FLUFF. AND JUST TO ANNOY YOU I PUT IT ON CAPSLOCK THAT I AM TOO LAZY TO GO CHANGE. HA. AND YOU CAN'T HEEL ME! ONLY SAKU CAN, SO HA AGAIN!

Ch35:Treatments

Triangle of Doom: I feel greatly honoured that you think my story is good. I think it's ok. It's getting better, with me reading VoidMoon's Generation V and all (THANKS AGAIN VINNY). I use nicknames to give the Pokémon more character, and if you'd like, I'll e-mail you the Pokémon's gender and nickname chart I have, or post in the next chapter, or post it on my bio like Vinny does (VoidMoon). Just write back in your review.

Hazy Aura: Gaby...Such a fun person to injury...Unfortunately, she's my second side, so technically I'm killing myself...Don't worry, not really killing...Or am I?

Act: The movie was up 10 minutes after I got your review, so if any of you haven't read it: READ THE GOD DAMN THING! I worked really hard to make the first 10-15 minutes, so please appreciate my efforts and READ!

Demon-Slaer13: Like this chapter, it was a setup thing. The next chapter will be a realization, and the next an action. Shit, I just revealed half the plot. Oh well. You're worth it. And Sakio? I'm throwing in a twist...

Linkmaster27: I've been doing my homework, you know! If I want to become a Genetic Engineer, then I've gotta start somewhere! I spent half an hour in the library at school reading up about the different parts of a DNA strand, how many there are in a cell...It's complicated. And you're getting better.

Ok! Well, that's it! Hoped it was half decent, considering I had to had to try and write it when I still had...The writers' most feared foe, the most evil thing on the face of the earth other then the color Pink...WRITER'S BLOCK!

Ah well. I'm insane.

C Ya soon!

Gaby.

PS: Whoever is the main character in the story will sign. You'll notice. Ok! Bye!


	37. Ch37:Nightmare, Part II

Author's note: THANK YOU SANGO-CHAN FOR RAKUEN BECAUSE IT INSPIRED ME FOR SOME STRANGE REASON BUT THANK YOU MORE VINNY! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!

Thanks to your three new chapters that I hadn't read, I WAS INSPIRED.

But, there is one last person I must thank. Who? Who could it be?

HAZY AURA OF COURSE!

I love your new story. Can't wait for it to get off the ground. And it inspired me too.

I LOVE ALL OF YOU.

Um...((burns tomato red))

In a sibling way.

Yeah...Thanks to all my reviewers, responses at the end. GOD I LOVE YOU ALL...LIKE SIBLINGS.

Ok, I'll shut up now.

Wait. One more thing: There is a mention to 'Otherworld' in this. Call it whatever you want. It's where you go when you die (if you believe in stuff like that). Something akin to heaven, I'd say. But not quite like it. Not _my _version, anyway.

* * *

As soon as the door opened, Kip felt himself change. It was as though he left his body behind. He was frightened for a moment, wondering at this sudden loss of essence and weight that usually restricted him. Looking around, he found he was floating next to the old man...Or not. He was no longer old, but much, much younger. He looked around Kip's age, with short powder-white hair, bright blue-white, snowy eyes, and a kind, smiling expression. He was still wearing the white robe-thing, and was floating beside him like a ghost. Kip, suddenly struck by horror, looked down at his own body and gasped.

He was completely white. His jeans looked like clean linen, not denim or jeans of any sort. His shirt was linen-like also and longer so that the sleeves ended at his wrists. His hair had gone white also, as well as his skin. The only thing that hadn't changed colour were his bright, currently frightened green eyes.

He was no longer human. He was pure spirit.

"What...Just...Happened...!" He said in a soft, shaky voice. The boy next to him smiled.

"You are something like a cross between a spirit and a memory. Your consciousness has been preserved, but your body and soul have been altered."

"Body and...What! You mean I'm dead?"

The boy laughed. "No, you are simply existing in this dimension. You're still the same person, though your soul has been purified in order enter this realm."

"Wait...This is like the bridge to the Afterlife?" Kip said, the panic in his voice turning to curiosity now that he knew he wasn't dead.

"Otherworld, actually. It's where souls go when their shell loses its life."

"You mean where ghosts go when their body dies?"

"You could say that."

"But I'm not dead."

"You're not in Otherworld. You're on the Bridge, also called a gateway. You can't pass through since your body still retains a pulse, and neither can most of your friends, so you have nothing to-"

But Kip had not missed the slight reference and cut him off sharply. "_Most _of my friends? You mean one of them CAN die and go to Otherworld any second now? Don't tell me it's..."

The boy turned grave. "I'm very sorry, but your friend Gaby is rather close to death. Her body is badly injured and her soul is being tormented."

"Tormented?"

"Yes. And a soul that has been tormented and warped into near non-existence cannot enter Otherworld under any circumstances."

"But...Where will she go?"

"She will become a lost soul. You've heard of ghosts, correct?"

"Yeah...Gaby won't become a ghost, will she?"

"No, much worse then that." The boy turned so that his back faced Kip. He raised his head and stared into the empty space. "Ghosts and evil spirits are the remnants of poor souls who have either done such horrible deeds that they are not allowed into Otherworld, or they are lost in darkness. Your friend's soul is being tormented beyond belief of even myself."

"And who are you exactly?" Kip asked tentatively. He had been dying to ask this question, but had thought it sounded rather rude. Now, he didn't think formality was a real concern in this place.

At this question, the boy turned around. "I am simply a guide here, a guide who was chosen to be your guardian for your time here and help you in any way possible. However, I generally run this place."

"So...You're like a God?" Kip asked, feeling intimidated by the boy, even though he looked no older then himself.

"Not at all, Kip," He said. "I simply have been here for the longest and know much about it, but no one shall rule over Otherworld."

Kip was silent for a while at this news, but his mind suddenly snapped back to Gaby. "Is there any way we can help her?"

"We, no," He said, turning fully around and facing Kip. Kip simply stared back into the snowy blue eyes. "But you can."

* * *

Lily had now remembered most of the city. It had been several years since she had been in this city, but she had spent most of her life here. The memories of where things were had come back, and now she was wandering the streets, desperately trying to figure out how she had gotten here.

"Let's see...The last thing I remember was Kip glowing. That's not much help..." She said aloud. Not having others see or hear you did come in useful. At least they, meaning the people bustling about her, didn't think her insane. "Come on, think! Think Lily, you're stuck in your old home where no-one can see or hear you and you have no idea how you got here!" Her stomach rumbled in protest. She stopped and looked down at her growling stomach, people walking through her. She sighed heavily and agitatedly. "I can't think on an empty stomach..."

Her new mission was to find food. After attempting to talk to a hot dog vendor and getting nowhere (most likely because he couldn't hear or see her), she figured that the only way to get food was to take it.

_Besides, _she thought as she entered a pizza place (A/N Gee, I haven't done these for a long time, but I must. Does this look familiar, Vinny? ) _It's not like these people ever gave me a break before. Who's to stop me for taking some of their food? They owe it to me._

However, this plan did not go over well. For one thing, she couldn't pick up the pizza at all. Her hand went through it.

Cursing loudly (though no-one could hear), she left the pizza place, hungrier then ever. However, thoughts of how nice a rice ball would taste right now were driven from her mind when she heard the shouts of people. Following the noise, she was led into a long, narrow alleyway. Near the end of the alley, a cloaked figure was running franticly, tripping over its own feet and running very strangely. Behind, a group of several boys and girls ranging in age from 9 to almost adult were following, brandishing sticks and other threatening items.

The figure in front was running extremely fast, knocking over garbage cans and boxes in its haste. Lily, even with her enhanced sight, could not make out who or what it was. In a blink of an eye, the figure had passed right through her, followed shortly by the group of people pursuing the strange figure.

Lily wasted no time. Despite her lack of energy, she opened her Dragon-like wings and shot forward after the figure. She knew she couldn't do anything in this world...But the figure was very strange...It intrigued her. Already she had thoughts, but dared not think them.

Silently flying behind the people (though she didn't need to as her movements attracted no attention whatsoever from the crowd. Even if they could have seen her, they might have been more distracted with the enormous crowed pushing their way past them to get the small figure), Lily watched as the figure pushed past the crowd, the angry and jeering shouts of the mob behind her growing louder as people started to join the group.

The small figure turned into another alleyway, but this one was a dead end. The roofs of the surrounding houses closed in on the top, letting no light in and forcing Lily to use the claws on her hands (inherited from her Charazardien blood) to latch onto the side of a building and watch from there.

The mob had filled the alleyway and outside, cutting off any escape route. 3 people led the group of angry citizens, and Lily herself felt that this was exactly what she thought it was and would have given anything to be able to affect this dimension. Because if she could, she would have killed these three on the spot.

"So, you filth," Said the first one, a tall man with short, dark brown hair and cold grey eyes. "You going to fess up? Or are we gonna have to beat it out of you ag-"

"I DIDN'T KILL THOSE PEOPLE!" The cloaked figure screamed. It was a girl's voice, sounding about 10 years old. The crowd laughed and jeered at this statement, making the girl hiding beneath the cloak either shudder with fear or rage.

"Sure, and I'm a Pidgey," Said a girl, about 16 years old.

"You've got the intelligence of one if you think I'm murder, you idiotic bitch," Said the girl. Lily was sure now that the shudders had been rage, not fear, and she knew who exactly was under that cloak.

The girl who had just been insulted looked outraged. "You take that back, you little halfbr-"

"Why? So you can go around and say you trashed down the little HALF-BREED?" The shrouded girl put particular emphasis on the last word. A pause, and Lily could swear she was smiling under the veil. "My mistake. You look and act like a _Snorlax _to me." Before the girl could do anything but burn red with anger, she continued, "But that's an insult to Snorlax. You remind me more of a repulsive, surprisingly stupid MUK. You're face and IQ resembles one, you see."

By now the girl was near purple with anger. Without her sight Lily would be lost in all this but with it she could see what was happening.

"So what are you guys really afraid of? Surely not me, a lowly 10-year old kid?" The child under the cloak continued. "Or are you afraid of my power?"

Unfortunately, this did not get the response she was looking for. Instead they moved in with their weapons raised and started yelling again.

"NO! WE'RE GONNA GET YOU OUT OF OUR CITY ONCE AND FOR ALL, YOU FREAK!"

The girl who had been compared to a Muk ran forward and ripped the cloak off the figure underneath, kicking her in the process. She skidded across the hard ground, her clothes tearing. And Lily, who could see her in almost perfect clarity, nearly fell from her perch from shock.

It was...Her. This 10-year old version of Lily was wearing a very long, blue t-shirt that hung past her knees and very tattered old jeans. The signs that she was a Pokémorph, however, were slightly less. She had the same clawed, orange, reptilian-like feet and the same long snake like tail with an abnormally large fire burning on it, but no wings. Obviously this was a pre-form of her current Charizard form, and this younger lily was still in a Charmander form.

The mob had rushed forward as one, holding their sticks and weapons high and bringing them down. Older Lily, who had long since dropped down from her perch, was standing beside the mob, watching hopelessly as her memory played back in living colour.

The small form was struggling to rise, but failed each time when another person brought a tree branch down on her back, forcing her down. Some were slashing her with knives. Others were simply kicking her or, as mentioned before, hitting her with sticks or metal bars as hard as they could. It looked as though the small Lily would not rise.

A crashing sound was heard from the back of the mob. People were in mayhem now, running and screaming. Lily had risen and was flaming anyone who came near her. Finally, from the back of the crowd, her saviours had appeared, fighting and forcing the rebelling crowd back: A Natu, a Bagon, a Tailow, and a Murkrow were being led by a very pissed off Charmeleon, who did not look happy in the slightest. He was bashing through them ruthlessly, the rest of what undoubtedly was Lily's younger team (minus Rocker the Aerodactyl, most likely a member she did not get until later) following behind him, pissed but not quite so destructive. Little Red had already sent half the crowd into a panic.

"R-Red...PsyFly, Blackbeak, BraveWing, Arrow..." Lily said the names of her only friends weakly as the crowd dispersed and retreated, Muk-Lady shouting right before she disappeared, "We won't forget this, freak!"

Her Pokémon...Her _family _crowded around her, but the rest gave Red and Lily some space.

"Char?" Red asked. Lily looked up and nodded. "Char, Charmeleon."

"Your right. We have to leave...They'll come back...They always do..." Lily said. She smiled faintly and whispered, "But...at least I have you guys..." With that, she fainted.

Older Lily, who had been standing by, was now half-crying. She had been through this once, but why again? After this incident, she had been forced to leave. Every city and town she had lived in had treated her this way or not let her in at all. Therefore she had gone up to volcanoes and live, training for her life. That's all she ever did: Eat, Sleep, Fly and Train.

But Lily's vision was getting blurry. At first she thought it was the tears, but after wiping her eyes several times, she found that the scene around her was dissolving. Panicking, she looked around, trying to move, but she wasn't going anywhere. In the midst of confusion and fright, she fainted in the black swirling mist that consumed her.

* * *

"Man...So, this Lugia-Girl named Gaby got attacked by some wacko organization and got really badly hurt. Your other friends, Human Kip, Charizard-Girl Lily, and Human Seth who's the son of this Sakio-guy who sent this Latios-guy named 005 to get you guys fought against hundreds of the minion-people while you attacked 5. But Gaby was weakened by something 5 did to her and two OTHER Lugias right before they attacked, so she was nearly killed. Meanwhile, all the Pokémon are fighting it out with their trainers, Gaby's being beaten to a pulp, Lily's fending off about a hundred minions, Seth and Kip are trying to save Gaby, and you're keeping 5 busy. So when 5 and the minions disappear back to their hideout, you're unconscious and Seth takes care of everyone. I...I mean, You wake up and take over since I...WE are medical experts, but Gaby's gonna die. Then Kip and Lily come back from getting the Pokémon healed and Kip's acting all weird. You don't have a clue what's going on until Kip tries to get Gaby to get out of her coma and starts glowing. You black out, and you end up here. Is that about it, or did I miss something?"

The past 4 hours had been devoted to older Kieran explaining everything that had happened since he met up with the gang up until now. With assistance from Kokuei, they had explained everything they could remember to their younger counterparts.

"Yeah, that's about it," Kieran said, sighing and slumping against a tree trunk.

"And you have no idea how you got here?"

"Well..."

"Well?"

"If Kip got his telekinetic powers..."

"Kip is Psychic?"

"Sort of. He's telepathic with Gaby, anyway. But if they were amplified, maybe..."

"You're saying you were transported here because Kip went into emotional overboard and now you're stuck?"

"You like repeating things, don't you?"

"It helps me think better."

"Well, that goes for the both of us!"

They paused. A few seconds later and little Kieran spoke.

"So...What do you do now?"

"You mean you don't think I'm insane for believing this?"

"I KNOW you're insane," Little Kieran said haughtily. "You're the older version of ME, aren't you?"

Kokuei and Prowler were slightly apart from their half-human brothers and were conversing together. They had gotten to know or re-know each other, and were now discussing their future (at least for Prowler) affairs.

((for the benefit of my readers and because I don't know whether Mightyena say their name when they speak, I have taken the liberty of translating it for you))

"So is what they just said all true?" Prowler asked.

"Yup," Kokuei answered.

"So how're these friends of you're Pokémon?"

"Well...Kip's got Seaflyer...She's a Lugia, and-"

"No way! I didn't event think they existed!"

"Yup. And Gaby's got Silversong, Seaflyer's older brother!"

"Unreal...So? Anyone else?"

"Kip's also got Darkfaller, who's a Houndoom..."

"Awesome? He any good?"

"Not bad at all. And Lily's got a Blackbeak the Murkrow and a kick-ass Charizard named Red."

"Wicked!"

"Seth's got a damn good Manectric called Sparks as well, AND an Aggron named Ironfight AND Flyer the Flygon!"

"That's wicked. So this Seth-guy's the best in the group?"

"Nah, I'd say the order goes Gaby, Kieran or Lily, Seth and Kip."

"What! You mean Gaby's the best? Who else does she have!"

"Trouble the Pidgeot, Dragonsong the Dragonite, Sapphire the Charizard...She's blue and silver...Affection the Meganium, Slicksilver the Skarmory and Silversong the Lugia."

"So it's Silversong?"

"Nope. She rarely uses him. I'd say Slick's second-best."

"Slick? Oh, Slicksilver. I've never heard of a Pokémon having two names before."

"It is a bit strange, isn't it? A nickname inside a nickname..."

Their conversation carried on like this for some time, well past sunset. They had talked themselves out and had settled down to sleep by about 1 in the morning. But...

* * *

It had been two weeks since Seth had broken out of his fever. He had been trying to dismiss his wandering thoughts to Gaby, Kieran, and the rest of the people he had told himself were just figments of his imagination, but his mind kept wandering back to them. Especially Lily. How could one feel so strongly for someone who didn't exist?

He brushed these thoughts away as he continued to work out the calculus questions his father had set for him. Fever delusions, that's all. Just a long, crazy dream.

"Seth! Lunch time!" Seth's father's voice rang from the hall outside his bedroom.

"Coming!" He said, dropping his pencil and pushing his chair out. However, when he was walking down the long hallway to get to his parent's room, he thought he heard something heavy fall and hit the floor. He stopped, ears pricked for any sound of movement, anything to give a clue to what the sound was or where it had come from. After a few seconds with no sound, he dismissed it as one of the young scientists simply dropping something.

He entered his parents' room and was greeted by James and Guinevere Sakio sitting at the table, conversing cheerfully about DNA patterns and molecular levels and other things you would hear from two of the world's brightest scientist.

"Seth!" James said, turning to face his son. Seth waved and sat down at the open chair, where he began eating the Pokébet Soup (like alphabet soup but with little Pokémon shapes in it) in front of him.

"Any new discoveries?" Guinevere Sakio asked, ladling some of the soup into her own bowl.

"Well, I'm working on a new kind of Pokéball," Seth said after swallowing his mouthful.

"Really? What kind?" James Sakio asked.

"Sky ball. There's net balls and lure balls and all that, but nothing for flying-types."

"So? Made any headway?"

"Kinda...It's better then a Pokéball, anyway. But it's still only as good as a great ball for everything, it just looks cooler."

"Well, keep it up."

"What about you dad?" Seth asked as he ladled more soup into his bowl.

"Well, we're actually going to let the fused Pokémon and Human DNA cells continue to live," James said excitedly. Seth looked very surprised.

"But they never survive!" Seth said.

"Well, we've got some new data..." Guinevere said. "And we think this one will survive."

"I hate it when they fail..." Seth said quietly. "It's not right, kidnapping people. It's not so bad if they live, but when they die for a cause they don't even know..."

"Well, that'll stop soon," James said. Seth dropped his quiet air and, having failed not ask the exciting question, succumbed to his curiosity.

"So? What DNA are you using?"

His two parents exchanged looks, grinned, and turned to their son.

"We've got a human female about 8 years old," Said Guinevere.

"And the DNA of a Lugia!" James finished.

"What!" Seth said, dumbfounded. Lugia? "But they don't exist...Do they?"

"Apparently! We found the DNA in an ancient temple and are now using it to create a Pokémorph! And the readings say she's fine!"

The continued to chat about this subject for a while before Seth was told to return to his calculus. Seth, excited that maybe, just maybe this one wouldn't die, returned to his room to attack his calculus questions. However, he never finished his questions, for, lying unconscious on the floor in the middle of his room, was a young girl, around his age, with long orange hair, turquoise bangs, a sky-blue shirt, jeans, orange lizard-like feet, and a long, snake-like tail with a flame burning on the end of it.

* * *

Preview:

Lily: Wha...Where am I? Who...GYAH! IT'S SETH!

Kieran: What's that foreboding evil black cloud that's...Uh...Oh...

Lily: But why is Seth...Why am _I _a little kid!

Seth: I...I didn't dream it up...What's going on!

Lily, Seth & Kieran: Next time on Rogue Genetics: Nightmare, Part III!

Oh I am so evil...YAY!

Ok, I think it's gonna end up being a 4-parter instead...Oh well! Rejoice, because I have been able to WRITE!

OK, here's some review responses for my oh-so-loving fans:

happyham: Oh, but why would you keep reading the story if I didn't keep you hanging? I've lost many reviewers to non-cliffyness! And you are awesome, for you have been reviewing RG for a while now and you deserve a COOKIE!

linkmaster27: You think you could put a little more effort into your reviews...

Demon-Slayer13: Well, I STILL don't know what confused you, but oh well. And SEE? I'M UPDATING SOON. THIS IS SOON. And my &# spell checker wanted to be nice and skip over some stuff.

2005-03-08  
ch 36, anonymous: You don't have any other identification other then ' ', so... Anyway, this Nightmare thing...Well, it's not so much Nightmare more then it is that Kip created a rip in dimensions, transferred their minds into Gaby's (The reason all this stuff is happening is because Gaby's mind, as stated by our mysterious white-robed person, is in rapture and affecting stuff around it. Therefore, if your minds are in there, then you're getting affected (the reason Kieran can actually interact _is_ because he's a dark type. Even though what Gaby's doing isn't exactly Psychic, it's effecting him less because his mind is a dark-type's and her mind is a Psychic's). Anyway, Kip got lost in the transfer and got 'stuck on the bridge' (the dimension he used to transfer everybody).

Hope that helps.

B Boi: Thank you. And I prefer literacy in my reviews, PLEASE! It annoys the hell out of me. Yes there is hell inside of me. What of it?

OK! That's about it. C Ya next time!

Gaby & co.

PS: Yes, Gaby is now reading all Poké-fics and helping me writing them. Gaby exists in my mind with 72 other people, which some of you know already. Yes I am insane. Yes I am a genius...Wait, why are all the smart people evil mad scientists? Oh well!

MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!

PPS: PLEASE, PLEASE ask questions. I beg of ye, ASK THEM! It helps me WRITE!


	38. Ch38:Nightmare, Part III

Author's note: You can thank Saiyuki and the unedited Dragonball GT ending for this chapter! And, please, send me inspirational songs if you've got any! J-Pop, Anime, Whatever! Thanks a bunch!

Alright! Nightmare is now officially a four-parter! cheer

Warning: This chapter contains some gruesome descriptions, so please don't throw up and short circuit your keyboard. Thank you. Ok, it's not that bad, but still: If you're eating something, it might make you a bit queasy. This chapter is also a lot longer and darker then others, considering I have to set up all the bad things that have to be resolved in part 4. And I gave an exert to someone...They said my detail is amazing...I hope you think so too!

Oh, and Gaby finally gets a part in this one! FINALLY! She's disappeared for the past couple episodes! YAY!

LET'S GO! NIGHTMARE: PART III

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How! How can I help her?"  
Kip had jumped on the opportunity to help his dying friend, who, he had just been informed, was having her very soul tormented.

"Hmm...I'm breaking a few rules, but I'm going to let you, just you, enter her nightmare." The boy said gravely.

"Alright! And in her nightmare, I'll-"

"I don't believe you understand the severity of the situation, my friend," He said, looking suddenly darkened. "Once you go in, your existence is in jeopardy. Like Gaby, your soul is tied to this dream...Well, in this dimension, dreams are reality. Literally. If, say, you had a dream about being killed by a giant lizard, you would die. If you had a dream about eating chocolate ice cream, you would actually eat chocolate ice cream."

"So what you're saying is...Once I go, there's no coming back. And...Everything I do in her mind is real?" Kip asked, trying to confirm.

"Yes."

"Alright! I don't care!" He said determinedly. "If there's any way to save Gaby, I'm going to find it!"

"You are a fearless one, aren't you?" The boy said with a smile. "Very well."

He turned, extended both his arms and created a swirling black portal between his hands. It grew, expanding in a whirling black and purple circle, swirling like a stormy sea. The surface rippled, and an image of a great white marble hall was stretched out before them. Stopping the portal creation, the boy floated away to the side, extending one arm to show that Kip should enter. It almost looked like he was a great lord inviting someone into his home.

"Remember, once you go in-" he cautioned.

"I know, there's no coming back." He said, sounding afraid.

"Right," The boy said. He paused for a moment, and then looked as if he'd been struck in the face by a brick. "Oh! I forgot!" He said, sounding surprised at his own incompetence. He fumbled in a pocket of his robes that was cleverly hidden by a shimmering white sash, and pulled out a small green stone. He handed it to Kip.

"What's this?" Kip asked, looking at the little rock, turning it over to investigate it further.

"That's a spirit stone. That'll help you find your friend. It'll glow when you're getting close to your destination." He explained. "Don't lose it! That's also your only ticket out of this place. And yes, it'll work for both of you." He said, anticipating his next question before Kip even thought of it.

"Right," he said, clenching the small stone tightly. He took a deep, steadying breath. "Ok."

"Good luck, Kip!" He said. He gave last smile before zooming behind him and pushing Kip headfirst into the barrier. "Don't die!"

If Kip thought that getting to Otherworld was a strange experience, he was shocked when he re-solidified and fell into Gaby's nightmare. Instead of feeling air-light, he suddenly felt properly heavy and was falling, with gravity's help, back down to Earth. One minute he was weightless, and the next it felt like he weighted 500 pounds.

With a crash, he hit the floor. Hard. He cursed loudly as the pain hit him like bag of bricks, feeling his arm twisted out of shape. Luckily, when he sat up, it gave a painful wrench and righted itself. He rubbed it gingerly, noticing that he was wearing his usual clothes again. Blinking, he looked at his surroundings.

He was sitting right smack in the middle of an enormous hallway. Everything was perfect white marble, with marble pillars supporting the roof. It looked like one of those old roman halls, but not a ruin and much more sophisticated.

He stood up, reflexively brushing himself off (though the hall didn't have a speck of dirt in it). He was so awestruck by the awesome beauty of the place, he just started walking down the hallway, having no idea where he was going.

After 20 minutes of walking, he was suddenly out in sunlight. Compared to the blinding white he had just been in, outside in blinding, fresh sunlight was slightly dark. But this new place was no less amazing then the hall.

It was astonishing. Tall, green wild grass stretched out before him, blowing in the slight breeze that was playing across his dumbstruck face. To his right ran a short cliff, just the perfect height to jump down. Past the cliff was sparkling, untouched beach that stretched out for what looked like miles. And past the beach, of course, was water. But this was water like he'd only seen in one place before, a place he saw very rarely: Gaby's calm, astonishing eyes. The way the waves were swaying back and forth were exactly how Gaby's eyes seemed to shine when she was feeling relaxed and calm. The way the bright sun reflected against the waves created a sparkling feature, just like hers. The water colour matched the calm, deep blue eyes. Even the perfect sky, which the water was reflecting in perfect clarity, matched the lighter tint to Gaby's amazing mood-telling eyes.

Kip would have loved to stay there for ever, just admiring the beauty, but something clicked in his mind and snapped him back. Something that had been nagging his mind, like that little voice that people call their conscience that says, 'you really shouldn't be doing that!' when you're about to drive your dad's new car over a stunt ramp.

'_This...This looks nothing like a nightmare,' _said the little voice. The grass was so soft and refreshingly cool, like it was calling to him. 'Just come and sit for a while and watch the ocean.' That's what they seemed to be saying. Everything was too perfect...Except for the water. That water which looked so much like Gaby's eyes. But...Wait!

Kip noticed it, looking off past the shoreline. What was that? A tiny tint of red, seeping over the water ever so slightly. It grew, and his eyes were able to define that it was a liquid of some sort, coming from under the water. He'd seen a lot of that liquid lately, that thick red liquid that is a key to life.

Blood.

Yes, that was blood alright. And the blot was getting bigger. The sky was suddenly being overcome by dark, foreboding clouds. The shoreline was turning grey, the grass was becoming more and more like sharp, biting knives.

Something clicked right then and there. Wherever Gaby was, her mood was changing. He didn't know how he knew this, but he just did. The water, now almost completely red, was the same colour as Gaby's eyes when she was ready to go to drastic measures, to kill. Blood red swirled with black. The shine was now darker red, the sparkle deadly orange.

He had to find her. Whatever was going on, something was definitely wrong. He suddenly realized that he didn't have the green stone that the boy had given him. He checked his pockets. Not there. He also realized that he didn't have his Pokémon anymore, either. He knew the only way to quickly find Gaby was to get the stone, and the only way he could defend himself were his Pokémon. He knew they hadn't come with him, but that stone was his only link to Gaby.

He rushed inside the white hall, which had remained unaltered. It must have been some sort of untouchable portal, a way too and from this world. Or so he thought. Kip didn't notice in his haste, but behind him, the white marble was turning blood red.

Kip bolted, a stitch jabbing his side painfully. His breath was coming in short gasps. Trying to run a seemingly unending hall while looking for a tiny green rock was near impossible. But he kept trying and, at last, he found it.

Turning around, he saw that the pure white marble was turning red. He could also see distant shapes, moving sluggishly towards him. They were coming from the way he entered...Or was it the other way? He didn't know, but his instinct was telling him to run.

Be bolted, clutching the green stone tightly and running literally for his life. He could hear distant flapping sounds and the sound of bare feet hitting the marble floor behind him, which just prompted him to continue running at top speed, despite the protests his body was making.

The hall was shorter then the one he had entered, but when you're being chased by a bunch of scary, bodiless monsters, it seems like it will never end. Luckily for Kip, it did, and stopped for a moment to catch his breath before, without even looking at his new surroundings, he dove under a large rock that was positioned just right to have him hide underneath.

He wormed his way into the space and waited, hoping his hard breathing wouldn't give him away. Or his wildly thumping heart, which was working overtime. Kip had never run so fast in his life, and his body didn't know how to handle it.

However, when after 10 minutes (when he was almost fully recovered) nobody had shown up, he figured they must have turned back and decided to risk leaving his rock shelter. Besides, the green rock was starting to glow ever so slightly.

He wriggled his way out from under rock, still clutching the green stone tightly in his hand. He straightened himself, and looked around at his new surroundings.

If the other place had been heaven, then this was most definitely hell. Disembodied screams of women and children and shouts of men could be heard, echoing creepily. The sky was red with the fire surrounding the area. Random debris from what could have been houses were flaming and turning into charcoal, sending bright sparks into the air like an enormous bonfire. Death was everywhere: The ground was stained with dry blood, and small trickles of the sickening red liquid were running everywhere, including underneath his own feet.

He started walking, horrified by the bloody scene around him, trying to find a reason for all the destruction, death...the echoing screams that were the last things the living had said. For that's what they were: The villager's last spoken words before they were killed, now reverberating like a broken record playing over and over, drilling into Kip's mind.

The stone in his hand was now warm and slippery with the sweat of his tightly clenched hand. Kip was scared, horrified and disturbed by the death scene replaying itself around him, but the stone brought him back out. It was glowing brightly now.

"GABY!" He yelled, hoping against hope that her voice wasn't one of the ones in the echoes. "GABY! WHERE ARE YOU! ANSWER ME!"

Nothing. Nothing other then the eerie echoes and crackling of fire as it consumed the remnants of dwellings.

"Where are you?" He repeated to himself, desperately trying to find her. He started moving about the town, searching under rubble for his friend. All he was finding, however, were the dead bodies of faceless people: Women clutching their children, men who had been standing in front of their wives and children, trying to shield them from the monster that had done this, children who had been running in terror from the horrors that had come straight from their nightmares.

And then...There was a tiny sound, just loud enough for Kip to hear. Something was still alive. Whether it was a Pokémon or person he couldn't tell, but anything, as long as it was alive, was a shining symbol of hope for Kip.

He heard it again, and pinpointed it. He began digging through the rubble before he came upon a hand. A human hand. He checked the pulse. There it was, weak but there.

He dug furiously through the debris, uncovering the forearm and shoulder, then the head.

It was Gaby.

He dug ferociously, cutting his hands up, scraping his arms and legs as he viciously dug through to free his trapped friend. Had he been looking, the green rock which he had placed aside was glowing like a star, shining against the dark red gloom with an aura of light.

Gaby was finally freed. She looked weak, frail, helpless. He drug her out into the street and shook her gently.

"GABY!" He yelled, trying to wake her up. "WAKE UP, GABY! I'M HERE!"

Slowly, painfully slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up at her friend's black-charred face. He took his sleeve and wiped his face clean (or rather, cleaner) and looked down at her.

"Kip...?" She said, her voice sounding much stronger then she looked. "How...? You didn't...?"

"Gaby! I'm right here!" He said, overjoyed. He'd done it! He'd rescued his friend from her torture! Now all he had to do was get back to that hall with the green rock and...And...He realized he had no idea how to get back. The boy had forgotten to tell him how to return to Otherworld. These thoughts were driven from his mind when Gaby spoke again.

"Kip, you died!" She said, sitting up. He put a hand behind her back to support her. "I...I watched you die. That monster killed you, and Lily, and Seth and Kieran and all your Pokémon...I watched you be torn apart!" She exclaimed. "How...!"

"Gaby, this is just a really bad nightmare! Something happened...I don't know, some kind of sickness or something...But you're trapped here! But I can take you out now!" Kip said. "Can you-"

"NO! I watched you die! You're not real!" She yelled, pushing him back. "I...Couldn't save you...Or the others..."

"Gaby! I'm real! I told you, this is all a really bad dream that's taken over!" Kip explained hurriedly. "Listen. You...I don't know, must have subconsciously amplified my psychokinetic powers and made everyone go into memories. But I didn't have enough power to transfer myself too, and I got lost in the middle, in Otherworld. And I met this boy...And he got me here! I'm here to save you!" Kip pleaded. "Please believe him!"

"Kip..." She said quietly. She nodded, looking more like the old Gaby then ever. "Right. Let's get out of here!"

She didn't know what: Something in his voice had just made her believe. That image of him being torn apart was not one that would fade quickly from her mind, but she believed him: This was a dream. A dream...Just a bad nightmare.

"Come on!" Kip said, helping her up. They turned to run, but they hadn't taken 3 steps when Gaby stopped.

"What? Come on Gaby!" Kip said, stopping. But Gaby was turned around, and staring at the thing that had destroyed the town, her friends...And now it was coming back to destroy her soul for good.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

((Again, for the convenience of the readers, I shall translate what the Mightyena are saying))

A resounding crack sent all but Kokuei's eyes open. Kokuei remained sound asleep, dreaming of berries, pizza, and other types of food.

"What was that?" Younger Kieran asked, wide awake.

"You heard it too?" Older Kieran said, also wide awake.

"I don't like the looks of this...Something doesn't feel right," Prowler said, standing up and walking over to his brother.

"Zzzzz..."

"You lazy..." Older Kieran said as he got up and poked his Mightyena friend awake. "YO! Wake up!"

Kokuei grumpily got to his feet, following after his brother. They communed, a group of 4, waiting for something else to happen.

They didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, there was another loud crack, and this time a tree not 10 feet from them fell with a crash to the ground. Kokuei was awake after this, considering he jumped close to 4 feet in the air at the sound.

"Please don't tell me I'll grow up to be like this idiot..."

"I HEARD THAT!"

"Your point?"

"Grrrr..."

"Shut up you two!" Younger Kieran ordered. They both obeyed instantly.

"What the hell did this?" Older Kieran asked. He had used the quarrelling Mightyena's diversion to make his way over to the tree to examine it. "It's not machine...Not man...Must be Pokémon or something," He said. He was correct: It looked kind of like claw marks, but the wood was rotted. Kieran cautiously touched the rotted wood and immediately withdrew his hand with a yelp. He ran in circles for a few seconds before leaping over to the lake and dunking his hand underwater.

"What? What's wrong?" his younger counterpart asked, hovering around his elbow. Kieran took his hand out of the water.

"Poison. No, closer to acid. Look at my hand!" He said, holding his hand out to show his younger self. The skin of his index finger had been eaten away, and was close to exposing raw muscle.

"Ouch, that must've hurt!" Younger Kieran said, looking disgusted and imagining how much it would have hurt to have your flesh eaten away in seconds.

"Yeah...But...What could have-"

He never got to finish his sentence. A horde of purple Pokémon burst through the trees at that moment, taking many of the trees down with them. The culprits for the acid and tree killings was a horde of Haunter, Gengar, Misdrevus and Sableye, all with possessed glowing red eyes and a strange mark under their left eyes.

"Whoa! That was sudden!" Younger Kieran said, looking at the horde. They turned to the source of the strange voice. "Shit."

"This is gonna call for some battling!" Older Kieran said, game face on. "Too bad they're all ghosts! Go! Sniper! Lucky! Shadow! Powerhouse! Bullet! Lead, Kokuei!"

All of his Pokéballs exploded, releasing his Sneasel, Absol, Umbreon, and Sharpedo, with Kokuei in front.

"Wow...I'm so cool!" Younger Kieran said, higher pitched then usual in his excitement to see older him battle.

"Watch this kid!" He said. If he was going to play hero, he might as well do it right, after all. "Lucky! Powerhouse! Bullet! Attack pattern Trampoline! Sniper! Shadow! Kokuei! Defence pattern Mirror Guard! GO!"

They sprung into action. It was Kieran's 6 against the opposing 100 or so. If you didn't know Kieran, it would have seemed pretty hopeless. Powerhouse stood in front on all 4's, ready. Lucky stood defenceless for a minute or so, at which time the evil ghosts tried to attack. However, Kokuei's team kept creating substitutes and mirror images, which took the hits for him.

Lucky was in front of Bullet the Sharpedo, and finally ready. The Absol was glowing all white and couldn't hold the charged attack in any longer. Bullet sent a blast of concentrated water that caused minor damage to Lucky but sent him flying. Powerhouse the Tyranitar was ready, back up to fulfill the name of the attack pattern. Lucky was drug down by gravity and bounced right off Powerhouse's back, sending him 20 feet into the air. The Razor Wind attack, now charged past bursting point, exploded from his body, eliminating just a little less then half of the attackers with one blow.

There was only one flaw to this brilliant plan: After using the attack, Lucky is once again at the mercy of Gravity. If Sniper isn't fast enough or is busy with fighting, 'Lucky' doesn't live up to his name. It just so happened that Sniper had been cornered by 10 Sableyes and couldn't make it in time, resulting in a crash and KO of Kieran's Absol.

"Damn," He said, returning him. "Ok...Think...Damn, I need him to do that pattern...I never have to battle against large numbers like this...Only Shadow-Wave will work!"

"Um...Well, couldn't Prowler do it?" Younger Kieran asked quickly. "I mean, he's 4 legged, strong and a dark-type."

"I don't...Well...Ok!" He said with a thumbs up to the eager Mightyena pup. He leapt into battle next to his older counterpart.

"Alright, just follow Kokuei, Prowler!" Kieran called. He raised his voice. "One last shot, guys! Shadow-Wave!"

They stopped and looked at him. They'd only done the Shadow-Wave pattern once, and it had caused a lot of destruction. However, they were better trained now, so they should be able to handle it...

The all retreated and lined up, Prowler and Kokuei at the front leading the assault. They were completely surrounded by the remaining possessed ghosts, and were in a pretty tight situation. Unfortunately, just as they were about to spring into action, all the Gengar used Toxic at once, which caused major damage to the team.

"SHIT!" Kieran swore loudly. "DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT! GUYS, JUST FIGHT IT AND DO THE ATTACK!"

They all nodded weakly, but looked determined enough. They jumped into the air at once, Kokuei 'Wall kicking' off the others. That is to say, he jumped off the others to gain altitude. Prowler couldn't follow, but he didn't need to.

For a split second, time seemed to stop. The 5-point arrangement with Kokuei at the top above the others was remarkable. It showed just how much training and effort the Pokémon and their trainer had put into their battling skills, refining them and mastering them to create the best fighting team possible.

"NOW!"

They flipped to face the center of their formation, and all used faint attack simultaneously. They passed through each other at exactly the same time, creating a sort of shockwave of dark energy through the entire area. Trees were blowing around, threatening to uproot themselves. The ghosts were blown away and disintegrated. They had won.

The 6 of them landed. Most were tired and suffering greatly from Toxic, but poor little Prowler was suffering from extreme exhaustion and poisoning. Little Kieran ran forward and caught his brother, shoving a Psncureberry down his throat. Older Kieran was a little more gentle, and dispensed the berries one at a time.

"You did great," Kieran commended Prowler as he fed the last berry to his Sneasel. "That's a hard technique to master."

"Thanks," He said weakly. Younger Kieran shoved some normal berries down his throat as well. "You're HACK chocking me!"

"Well," older Kieran said after he revived his Absol. "Come on out..."

"Who are you talking to?" Little Kieran said, looking around. "There's nobody here...Great, I grow up to be a psycho..."

"What? There's always a boss or leader or something...Where's the giant Gengar or something that we have to face?"

As if in answer to his statement, an enormous Gengar crashed through the ground, sending solid rock flying everywhere. Older Kieran covered his still recovering Absol with his body to shield him from the rock, while his younger self covered his only Pokémon protectively.

"Wow..."

"My intuition is remarkable, is it not?"

"Quite."

"Shall we kick his ass together?"

"Absolutely."

"Tally-ho, then!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The little orange-haired intruder on Seth's floor stirred slightly. Seth was still too shocked to register anything except there was someone lying unconscious on his floor. How had it...She? How had _she_ gotten there, why was she here, and, possibly the most important of all, who was this intruder?

The figure stirred again, this time groaning a little. The noise seemed to snap Seth out of his wondering reverie, and he instinctively grabbed the first heavy solid object he could find (it turning out to be a Barboach lamp), and held it tightly with his shaking hand. Slowly, the figure sat up, her back to him, cursing and rubbing her head.

With a cry Seth sprang forward, swinging the lamp at the intruder as hard as he could. The orange-haired girl rolled over just in time, and leapt to her feet in the process.

The looked at each other for a moment, taking in the other's appearance in turn. Their eyes widened as they realized who the other was. Seth opened his mouth, closed it, then reopened it and screamed her name.

"LILY!"

To the orange-haired girl, this sealed it. She took a few steps forward and threw herself into a hug around Seth's neck. He stopped for a moment, dropping the lamp. Then he pushed her away from him, closing his eyes as if trying to wish her away.

"Seth?" Lily asked, blinking in confusion. Seth collapsed onto his knees, holding his head in his hands and shaking it back and forth.

"No…You're not real…You are a figment of my imagination…You do not exist…" He said to himself, his voice shaking. Lily looked at him as if he was insane.

"Uh, hello?" She said, kneeling down in front of him. He made no motion that he had heard her, but continued to shake back and forth, willing her to disappear. "Seth, snap out of it!"

He looked up slowly. She couldn't…if she was…then where was he? Was this all fake? Or was this some freakish nightmare, or disease? Perhaps the fever had come back?

Yet through all these assurances, he knew she was real. Somehow, she was the only solid thing around him, like everything else was an imitation of a former life.

She continued to look sternly at him, also willing him to believe she wasn't a figment of his imagination.

"Lily?"

"Yes, it's me," She said, a little more kindly.

"Prove it." He said. A figment of his imagination would not have a response for that. Lily looked at him, puzzled for a moment, then grinned.

"Alright. The very first time we met, you were yelling at me. You were saying not to go and save Kip, but I went anyway."

"Lily?"

"YES YOU IDIOT, IT'S ME!" She said, her patience clearly about to snap.

"It IS you!" Seth said. "Then…What's this all? What happened here? You and this can't both be real because…"

"Yeah, speaking of unreal, why are you an 8 year old?" Lily interrupted.

"Take a good look at yourself," He said, pointing to a full-length mirror in the corner of his room. She stood up and walked over to the mirror. She stared at herself for a moment before fully acknowledging the fact that she had become the person she had been watching only a few moments ago.

She turned with a deadly expression on her face. Seth actually backed away slightly out of fear.

"EXPLAIN."

"I don't know either! One moment I'm…I don't…wait…" He said, trying to recall his last moments before he woke up two weeks ago. "I…Don't…Remember."

"Ok," Lily said slowly, dropping the glare. "I remember Kip going all glowy and then being blinded…Then I dropped into the streets!"

"Well something similar must've…Right, I remember!" Seth said, a dawning expression overcoming his face. "The flash, and then I woke up there on my bed. Dad was-"

"DAD!" Lily said, appalled he had called their mortal enemy in any sort of affectionate term.

"Sorry. Sakio and Mom were-"

"MOM!" Lily said, now alarmed. Now that she thought about it, she had never heard Seth ever speak of his mother.

"Yeah. Mom came running after I woke up, and then seeing her I just dismissed everything that's happened since I was 8 as a very long, elaborate dream."

"How could you have-" Lily said, but cut off suddenly. Footsteps were growing louder outside, and someone spotting Lily and Seth (one of which didn't exist in their plans yet) conversing on the floor would not exactly be a good thing.

Seth looked around wildly for a place to hide her, and his eyes fell upon the closet. Grabbing her by the wrist, he flung her into the closet at random, shut the door and just managed to grab his pencil and sit down at his desk when his door opened.

"Seth? You ok?" Said the voice of his father. His head poked in through the door.

"Yeah, why?" Seth said, looking up from his paper.

"I heard some shouting…" He said, looking around the room as if suspecting some hidden Pokémon.

"That was just…my new prototype ball backfiring," He said, coming up with a story fast. "I was just messing around with it, and it, uh…kinda exploded. But don't worry!" He said, seeing the look on his father's face. "I can fix it. I've got all the original diagrams still, and some parts are still ok."

"That's good," Sakio said, sounding relieved. "Ok, bye!"

With that, his head disappeared and the door closed again. Seth jumped up from his chair and zoomed to the closet. Lily was sandwiched between an assortment of Pokémon toys and a fallen shelf.

"Ow."

After 10 minutes of dislodging random items, plushies, comics, Pokéballs and one very heavy bag full of tools, Seth was able to free Lily from his closet. He flopped onto the bed, tired out as Lily stretched gratefully.

"So, you're saying that this is all fake?" Seth said, recapping the discussion they had held as he had attempted to free her from his prison of collectables.

"Yeah. Only this is really weird that we ended up in the same fantasy," Lily said, bending down and touching her Charmander claws that served as toes. "I wonder how everyone else is doing…"

--------------------------------------------------------

Kieran: Yeah! Let's kick some Gengar ass!

Kieran: Let's go Kokuei!  
Kieran: Wait…It's…growing…

Kip: What's killed everyone? What happened here?  
Gaby: It…came…Kip, it's coming back!  
Kip!!!!!!!!

Lily: What are we going to do? We can't just sit around here and wait.

Seth: We need to find the others.

Lily: But…Maybe we…

Kip, Gaby, Kieran and Seth:

Don't miss the breathtaking conclusion to Nightmare, Part IV!

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AHA! The long awaited third part has been written! I mean, I had to do something…people were sending me angry e-mails…

Ok, let's have some Review Responses just for kicks.

VoidMoon:

For your information, Sakio happened to turn dark after something happened in his life. Can you guess? And…ok…I accept this…Just make sure I'm alive when you make the pairing because I am DYING for a decent pairing in that story! ((Sorry, but little miss pink is EVIL)).

B-boi:  
You like my Pokébet soup, do you?

Kei the Miko Neko Hanyou:

Hehe.

Well, it's supposed to be obvious. It was meant to be obvious.

Nice name.

jOrdAn:  
Since I do not wish to be attacked by a million happy people wearing pink…

FYI, I always spell-check. My spellchecker sucks, though.

THERE'S TOO MANY OF THEM.

Ask Kami, Buddha, whoever. Because sadly, I have no answer other then EWB (Evil Writers' Block) and LOI (Lack Of Inspiration).

Jordan R.

I'm very happy you like it, but sorry. This story is sticking around and continuing until I

A) I have no ideas  
B) I have no-one left who will read it (which is impossible since Jo and the fans in her head are crazy about it and Kei-Chan is faithful)

C) I am killed in a freak accident/murdered, in which case the story's name is changed to DNA Countdown: The continuation of RG and I pass the authorship to Jo, assistant writer Kei.

Jordan R. Was Here:

I repeat, I will never finish this.

But I am very happy you think so highly of my prided work! I am honoured that I am loved, and I appreciate all the compliments.

x363

Don't get your hopes up, buddy. Yet.

Ok!

Little known fact: Rogue Genetics was originally meant to just be Kip and Gaby, nobody else, just a little romance (not much, but just enough) and very suspenseful? That's why all the early chapters almost all leave on cliff hangers. Then Seth kinda came about, then Lily accidentally stuck on, and then Kieran was sort of an inspirational accident that I liked too much to let go…

**And now I have a few very important things I need all of you to tell me.**

**1. If I were to introduce a new character, it would be:**  
I need a gender. I need whether they're a morph, and, if so, what kind. I need an age, and I need at their starter Pokémon. (This also applies if you think changing Kip or Seth into morphs, but you just need to tell me what kind)

**2. Who is your favourite humanoid/talking character?**

You get one vote, and you can vote for:

Gaby  
Lily

Seth  
Kip

Kieran

003

004

005

Sakio

Kati

Kris (remember her? She might make another appearance!)  
Silversong

Seaflyer

Please vote! If you have a tie…go ahead and say 'em. And if I missed someone, put them.

**3. Who is your favourite Pokémon character?  
**Yeah, who is your favourite Poké-pal?

Give a vote for:

Darkfaller

Psylight

Quickzap

Aurora

Nightflyer

Slasher

Slicksilver

Trouble

Affection

Sapphire

Dragonsong

Sparks

Flyer

Mystify

Ironfight

Miracle

Fang

PsyFly

Red

Arrow

Rocker

BraveWing

Blackbeak

Kokuei

Sniper

Lucky

Shadow

Powerhouse

Bullet

Patch

I really appreciate this guys! Please give a vote, I'm curious to see what you guys think! And remember…

**4. I NEED A CATCHY…CATCH PHRASE! FOR RG! SO SUBMIT RANDOM WORDS TO GIVE ME IDEAS!**

Ok. Enough rambling. BYE!

Ryu Takeshi/Gaby.


	39. Ch39:Nightmare, Part IV

Author's note: **This chapter is officially dedicated to my very, VERY good friend, Jo.** HOORAH, cheer for her. This is her birthday present (very much overdue, but the thought still counts…I think). You can also thank the second best game (right after the Zelda series, Pokémon Silver, and Yoshi's Island) in the WORLD for inspiration for this chapter. What series?

TALES OF SYMPHONIA!

And it's phenomenal music!  
And game play!  
And characters!

And you can thank Mario music as well. And Bon Jovi for Have a Nice Day, and Fall Out Boy for Dance, Dance. Hoorah!

And Lily's and Seth's part is...Crap. Oh well. The rest makes up for it.

Now on with the show…For the last section of the 4-part Saga...

NIGHTMARE, PART IV!

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Kip looked over Gaby's shoulder to see what was terrifying her and gasped. In front of them, floating off the ground and only 30 feet in front of them, was a Lugia. But not a normal one. This one had pitch-black feathers, and everything that should have been blue had turned a dark, silvery colour. Blood-red eyes glowed from the silver eye fins, and fresh blood dripped from it's mouth.

"You…" Gaby said. Her voice was shaking, though whether it was from rage or fear Kip could not tell.

"_Yes, me," _The Lugia said. The voice was male, deep and terrifying. A sickening smile appeared on his face, showing his bloodstained teeth.

"You're not real…" Gaby said. Her voice a little shaky, but calmer now. "Kip's here. You're not real."

"_I'm afraid I am," _The twisted Pokémon said. _"Here is your proof." _

Opening his mouth, the Lugia began charging a power so vast, the ground around them shook. A few moments later, the blast exploded from it's jaws, heading straight for Kip.

There wasn't enough time to react. Gaby made a lunge for the blast but was thrown aside by the monster's power. Kip yelled and ducked, his hand falling on the green stone.

He was blasted backwards, slamming into the remnants of a house at over 80 mp/h. He cried out, and then his body fell limp against the ground in silence.

Gaby echoed his yell, trying to reach him. However, before she could even get close, a green barrier erected itself around his body. Kip started to glow faintly white, and Gaby, confused as she was, could tell this was no evil force.

"_It seems your little friend has succumbed to my power once again. If that isn't enough to prove that I'm real, then your ignorance far exceeds anything I would have expected."_

Gaby gave no response to this whatsoever. The black Lugia laughed coldly and landed. He took a shuddering step forward.

"_Then again, perhaps it's the fact that you were once a disgusting human. Yes, quite revolting, being related to such a weak r-"_

The Lugia cut off when Gaby turned around. Her eyes were the deepest shade of red they had ever been, filled with rage and bloodlust for her evil counterpart. The Lugia faltered for a moment, then laughed.

"_A cheap trick, but that is not nearly enough to frighten me."_

"It should be…" She whispered darkly, turning full around to face him. She seemed much different, merciless, yet still herself. Her voice was deadly calm, and yet uncontrollably angry at the same time. "For many, these eyes are the last thing they see in life."

"_I'm terrified," _The Lugia said mockingly. _"However, how many of your own kind have you ever killed? How many people have you actually slaughtered? How many existences have ended at your hand?"_

"I don't know. But you'll be the first of my kind," She whispered, her voice growing stronger. "My kind, yet only half of each of us. We are both half of the legendary guardian of the sea, but while I am human, you are a disgustingly filthy weakling of a creature, who lives in fear as he hides in the shadows. Shadows of doubt. Shadows of fear."

The Lugia's expression became angry for a moment, but then suddenly snapped into a dark and malevolent smile. His eyes bored into Gaby's, their power rivaling each other.

"_And now you understand your destiny…For you do have a destiny," _He said, for the look on Gaby's face had wavered for a moment. _"You were born with a purpose. You were taken from your home when you were a small child, away from your family, and given the power, if not purposefully, to fulfill it. _

"_Your purpose, your being, is to destroy. The blood that runs in your veins is not that of an innocent girl, but that of a vicious monster that will destroy everything. You were reborn with the power needed. Great plans were prophesized about you. Beautiful monstrosities of your own creation lie ahead, starting with those you hold near."_

"You're lying…!" Gaby said, but the color had already changed in her eyes. The Lugia smiled savagely and shook his head.

"_No…I am not lying. Your fate has been decided. You cannot run away forever. I can end this now…I can stop you from feeling the pain of killing innocents…" _

The Lugia's eyes went white, and an invisible ray of hypnotism flew into Gaby's mind through her eyes. She started to shake her head yes, yes to end this now…yes to end the pain, yes to stop it from happening, to keep them all safe…

She took a step towards the black Lugia. The grin broadened on his bloody face as his pray walked willing into his grasp. She took another step. Then another. But…

"NO!"

The trance was broken. Gaby's eyes gained their color as she whirled around. There was Kip, staggering to his feet, leaning heavily against the half disintegrated wall wall. The glowing green stone was clutched tightly in his hand as he glared angrily at the evil Pokémon before him. The Lugia's grin vanished to be replaced with an angry snarl.

"She may have a destiny, but it's not her fate!" Kip shouted. "Nobody has their life laid out in front of them by some random prophet who says what's going to happen! And I'm not prepared to believe that it is." He took a few steps forward. Gaby stared at him in awe. "No, I'm not going to believe it. And you're not touching Gaby, not even if I have to die to stop you."

"_When will you learn that death is a very simple thing?" _The Lugia asked. _"Perhaps…Once you are dead…you will realize it fully."_

The Lugia opened it's mouth for a second attack, but this time Gaby was ready. She calmly walked over and stood in front of Kip. Her eyes were closed, and a blank expression on her face.

"Gaby-!" Kip said in alarm, trying to force his way past.

"Kip…You're right." Gaby said. She opened her eye: They were set. Nothing would change her mind now. "And I'm not going to let you die."

Gaby suddenly became a very bright white, radiating the light in total contrast to her surroundings. Kip backed up to stay out of the way. Within a few moments, she was transformed into a full grown Lugia. Her feathers shimmered like pearls against the black and red background, and the blues fell in harmony against the fire.

Gaby turned her head around and fixed her eyes on Kip's. He was instantly hit with an extreme familiarity…déjà-vu?

_The Lugia's eyes met with Kip's, and Kip understood. The Lugia was Gaby, and Gaby was asking him to run. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. However, he did not obey. He stood rooted to the spot, wanting to help his friend._

_The Lugia, its eyes turning to a light blue, once again met with Kip's. He didn't know what this message meant, but a second later, he understood perfectly._

There was no difference from the time before, except that this time, Kip knew exactly what the light blue meant. Gaby shot a powerful wave of Telekinesis at him, blasting him quickly but harmlessly back, well over a hundred feet. Then she turned back to the black Lugia, her eyes now a blazing blood red.

"_So you wish to fight?" _The black-feathered Pokémon asked.

'_I've been to hell and back again already. I've got nothing to fear from death!' _Gaby yelled.

The battle began. Kip watched in awe as the two took to the sky in perfect synchronization, intertwining around each other. They lunged and attempted to kick each other whilst still remaining airborne. Both dodged. Gaby twirled and dived like a falcon hunting for prey and looped up behind the black monster. She whipped her tail out and whacked her black double hard across his back.

The black Lugia roared in outrage and whipped his tail around at her, catching her leg. With incredible strength, he whipped her up into the air and send her hurtling back down to earth. Then his eyes glowed blue, and a giant torrent of water blasted up from the ground. The Hydro Pump attack connected hard with Gaby's body and shot her back up.

Her foe flapped his wings powerfully, creating a whirlpool out of the water. Gaby was sucked inside the new cyclone. She got her wits around her and glowed an aurora of colours, then burst forth from the vortex. She dove head-first into the shadow-like Pokémon, driving her head into his stomach. They flew backwards, going right through a crumbling house as she drove him to the ground.

With a crash, rocks and dust flew up from the scene. A small crater remained where they had fell, but they were both back up in the air in a blink of an eye. Kip watched in amazement as they fought ceaselessly. As soon as one gained the advantage, the other would pull some unexpected trick and turn the tables once again.

Half an hour passed. Then an hour. After an hour an a half of non-stop ruthless fighting, the battle showed no sign of stopping. Kip just couldn't take it anymore.

He got up and started running. His brown hair whipped past his face as he ran towards the fighting pair, his green eyes set on the two legendaries. He finally reached them and looked up.

High above him, the duo was now resorting to non-physical attacks. Gaby dodged this way and that as her red-eyed opponent fired immeasurably powerful Aeroblast attacks at her. Every time he stopped to catch his breath, she bombarded him with equally powerful Aeroblasts and Swifts.

The black Lugia flew up over Gaby and hovered behind her. She turned around and was instantly blasted hard with a black Aeroblast.

Gaby plummeted, her feathers smoking slightly from the point where the attack had hit her. Kip dived out of the way just in time. Her body fell into the ground, bloody and smoking, creating a crater in the hard earth. He rushed over to her, tripping and stumbling down and hitting her body. He felt soft feathers and something wet and sticky on the hand he slung out to brace himself for the fall. He looked at it and saw a sickening red liquid dripping down his fingers and onto his wrist.

"GABY!" He cried in alarm, rushing over to her head. Her eyes were closed in pain. He could feel a sharpjabbing sensationprodding at the edge of his consciousness like a knife.

'_Kip…' _Said Gaby's voice inside Kip's head. It sounded faint and pained. Kip dropped to his knees and looked at the Lugia in front of him.

'_Gaby, are you alright!' _Kip asked in alarm.

'_I…don't think so…'_ She said weakly. Kip gently stroked the eye fin's blue feathers.

'_It's ok, you're gonna be fine.' _Kip said gently. _'You're gonna be f-'_

A harsh laugh interrupted him. Kip turned to see the black Lugia standing in front of them, laughing.

"_There is no use. She is as good as dead now," _He said cruelly. _"Nothing but a little baby who was too slow, weak, and brainless to defend herself. I wouldn't be surprised if sh-"_

"SHUT UP!" Kip yelled. He stood up, hands balled into fists, eyes flashing.

"_I wouldn't be surprised if she just gave up now and saved her the trouble and pain of dying. Save a little dignity for the afterl-"_

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Kip bellowed again, running around Gaby to stand in front of her protectively. This simply amused his foe further.

"_You are but an insignificant child facing the power of fear," _The Lugia said, attempting to bore into Kip's mind and terrorize him. He was slightly shocked when he came across a steel-like barrier protecting his mind…a barrier that was not his own. It had a hard resonance of immense proportion. But Kip didn't seem to know about it, and just glared ferociously up at the black Lugia.

"Maybe I am, but even cowards can do great things when protecting something they care about!"

"_So say the innocent. And the cowardly. And now, my pathetic little friend…It is time for you to DIE!"_

With that final word, the Lugia blasted an energy wave from his body. Kip knew in an instant that he was going to die, here and now. There was nothing he could do, no protection against the oncoming wave of death. He simply stood on his feet, fear gushing through him, as the blackness was about to envelope him.

'_Hey, Kip…In the fact of death and so on…stop using such cheesy lines!'_

Nobody really knew what had happened until a few seconds later. Gaby had felt this black wave coming towards them, and remembered her promise. She would not let Kip die. That meant shoving aside her pain and throwing him onto her back, zooming up into the air at lightning speed and flattening the blue feathers on her back, thus creating a powerful shield around them.

Kip opened his eyes and felt soft warmness under him. He saw white and sat up so suddenly, he almost fell off Gaby's back. Gaby was panting hard, but she was filled with new life, new motive, new energy.

'_Hey, come on, it could have been worse.'_

'_Not by much.'_

'_At least it sounded heroic.'_

'_I suppose…but still cheesy.'_

'_He-'_

"_WHAT!" _The black Lugia screeched in alarm, looking up. He flew up and snarled at them. _"Fine, if you will not die nicely, then I shall obliterate you and your li-"_

'_You know what pal?"_ Gaby said, annoyance flowing through her voice. _"Shut the hell up and stop it with the 'you're gonna die' crap. You know that I ain't gonna die. You know that Kip's not gonna die. This leaves us with you. You know that you're the only one that's sinking back into the ground tonight, so give it a rest and let me give you some of my own advice:'_

Gaby glowed and turned back into human form, she and Kip floating using Telekinesis. She extended her hand and began charging a blinding white Aeroblast. Her eyes narrowed and her face assumed a severely annoyed expression.

"Sit down, shut up, and go back to hell, you arrogant bastard."

With that, she blasted the beam. It grew to alarming size as it sped outward, and hit the shadow Lugia. The red-eyed foe let out a piercing scream and disintegrated.

Gaby slowly lowered them to the ground, breathing hard but looking satisfied. As soon as they touched down, she turned around and hugged Kip.

"Thank you." She said, releasing him. She was smiling.

"Don't mention it," He said, grinning back. He suddenly remembered something and pulled the small green stone out of his pocket.

"I wonder how you work this thi- AH!"

With a blinding flash of green light, the rock glowed bright green and they felt their bodies being sucked away into the swirling green void the rock had created.

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"We have got to find a way to get out of this world, or I'm going to crack!"

Lily and Seth had been puzzling for two days now. Seth had been sneaking food for Lily after meals, and he was starting to get strange looks from people in the hallways.

"But we have no idea how to get back to the others!" Seth responded. "And keep your voice down!"

"We need to do something drastic," She said, standing up and pacing. "Something that will snap us back to reality…"

"But what could that be?" Seth asked, sounding utterly hopeless. Lily didn't answer, but simply sighed, flopping back on the bed. There was silence for a minute, but then Seth thought of something he'd overlooked before.

"Lily…How far do you think this illusion goes?" He asked slowly, turning towards her.

"What?" She asked, lifting her head up to look at him.

"I mean, do you think this illusion field extends beyond the lab?"

"I dun-" She said, starting to shrug. But then she caught on. "I…Don't know…But there's only one way to find out, right?"

"I suppose…" He said doubtfully. "But the risks would-"

He cut off as he saw Lily sit up, grinning mischievously, and knew that whether he liked it or not, he was going to find out.

Night had fallen like a soft blanket of dark around the lab, but people still worked non stop. Seth's parents came in to say goodnight, and Lily saw Seth give his mom an extra long hug. Then they flipped off the light and left the room, the door closing automatically behind them.

Seth waited a few minutes before crawling out of bed and opening the closet to free Lily. Then they quietly crept from the room and down a darkened hall, diving into a storage room when a distracted scientist walked past.

"We're certainly going to be on our toes," Lily whispered once the scientist had turned the corner out of sight.

"Yeah, well, just remember…It was YOUR idea to try this..." Seth grumbled as the hurried on.

"Sure, but you won't be complaining if it gets us out of here," Lily countered, smirking. Seth had no reply but just ran a little faster.

They came to a door that would not open when they walked up to it. Seth strode over to the control panel and looked at it for a moment. Then he typed in a combination slowly and the door opened.

"How did you do that?" Lily said, forgetting the volume of her voice.

"I should hope I know. This is a letter lock combo: It always goes youngest to oldest…In short, my name."

The continued on, but then ran into trouble. Two scientists were standing in the hall, talking, and one spotted the two before the dove out of sight. He walked over to investigate, and Lily, doing instead of thinking, whipped her foot around and slammed him in the face. His nose broke with a quiet crunch and he fell back, unconscious. Lily rushed out and tripped up the fallen scientist's friend, then slammed her fist into her head, also knocking her out. She shook herhand opent and jammed both of them into her jeans pockets and looked around for Seth.

"How did you do that?" Seth said, forgetting the volume of his voice.

"I should hope I know. They were a pushover duo: They always go down after one hit…In short, wimps."

They continued on, Seth cracking any door codes that they ran into and Lily punching out anybody they met on the way. Eventually they turned a corner to see what looked like an exit. But before they could run over and escape at last, two figures turned the opposite bend and stopped dead at the sight of them.

It was Seth's parents. They both looked confused and dumbfounded at the same time, looking from Seth to Lily to each other.

"S-Seth?" Sakio managed. "Who…Who is…What are you doing…"

For a split second, everyone could see the longing in Seth's face. The one who felt this the most was Lily. She could tell the two greatest powers in him were fighting each other so hard, it was tearing him apart. Half of him wanted to completely forget Lily and the others and live in happy ignorance with his mother and father. The other half was making Seth realize that these were not his parents, and the only real thing left in his life (however messed up and unpleasant his life was), was standing beside him in the form of an 8 year old girl.

"Shu…Shut up!" Seth yelled, shaking his bent head. Lily's heart leapt at the sound of these words. At the same time, his parent's hearts fell. "Y…You two…You're not real…You two are just some sick imitation of my former life!" He looked up, staring first at his father, and then at his mother. Tears were filling in her eyes, and that seemed to spark the war in Seth again. But he subdued it and stared back, tears forming in his own eyes.

"No…I can't…I _won't _live my life as a lie, even if that lie is everything I've wished for," He said, sounding like his old self. His voice was growing more confident, but the tears didn't stop. "I refuse to play someone's twisted game, because what they thought would be an interesting twist…" He turned and faced Lily. "Is actually their downfall."

Lily looked back at the couple, staring at them and looking hurt. She turned fully to face them and glanced at Seth.

"Let's get out of this goddamn world."

With that, she bolted forward, diving and sliding past the parents straight into the door. Her body slid through it was the surface of a pool, and she disappeared from sight.

"Seth…" His mother said, her voice pleading.

"Sorry mom…Sorry dad…" He said, a tear falling from his eye. But then that feeling was gone, and he was running headfirst past them, into the wall. It was cold and thick, like syrup, but he swam through it and headed for what he thought was the surface. As soon as his head broke the substance, he saw a flash of greenish light. After that, he only knew blackness.

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The giant Gengar advanced towards them, each step sending a small earthquake rocketing towards the dark types. Younger Kieran lost his balance and almost toppled over onto Prowler.

"Uh…Is it just me, or is that thing getting…bigger?" Younger Kieran said, looking up at it.

"It's your imagination," his older counterpart reassured.

"Uh…I don't think so."

"Does it really matter?"

"No, not real-"

"Good. Now, let's go!"

The older Kieran bounded forward, his hands hitting the ground in a doglike fashion. It looked slightly ridiculous for a moment, but then his motive became clear. Spiky black and grey fur started to ease over his face and body. His eyes narrowed and gleamed red-grey as his face lengthened into a snout. His already wolf-like ears flattened against his head as his paws hit the ground smoothly with every bound.

He had transformed into a Mightyena. No longer was he clumsy and slow on two awkward sticks; four powerfully muscled legs now moved him across the ground like a speeding bullet. The wind no longer slowed him down: His aerodynamic fur flattened against the wind, making his small body streamline and slick. And no longer were his senses dull and unrefined, for now he could not only see much more clearly, but hissence of smell and hearing were phenomenally better as well.

He bounded, coming up to the giant ghost-poison Pokémon. He skidded to a halt at it's foot, unsure of what to do. Beside him, only three of his Pokémon had managed to keep up: Kokuei the Mightyena, Sniper the Sneasel and Lucky the Absol. The others waited far behind him with his younger self.

"_Sniper! Go for the ankles!" _He commanded. The Sneasel nodded and sped away towards the left ankle.

"_Lucky! Distract it!" _He barked (literally). The quick-footed Absol darted away with a cry.

"_And Bro…You're with me!" _He said.

'_Right with you, Kieran!' _The Mightyena said with a howl of excitement.

The two bounded forward, building up enough momentum to make use of their sharp claws and climb up their foe's leg. The Gengar was too busy with dealing with multiple copies of an Absol and getting blinded by bright lights at the same time. Apparently Double Team and Flash were working very well.

They climbed up together onto the Gengar's arm, then looked at one another. With a single look, they knew that the best place to start would with the face.

Kieran left Kokuei to stand as backup and leapt up onto the Gengar's head. The Gengar looked wildly around for him, but it's eyes kept swimming out of focus because of the Flash attacks. Kieran looked to his Absol, who was now standing beside him.

"_Go get the others!" _He said urgently. Lucky howled again and literally flew forward, riding on a blade of Razor Wind.

Kieran proceeded to begin clawing up the Gengar's head. Purple and black blood spurted from the wounds, disappearing into wisps of shadowy smoke. Most unfortunately, Kieran ignored these and continued to scratch away at the head.

The smoke surrounded him, entering undetected into his lungs and eyes. Suddenly, the power ignited, and a howl of pain rent the air. Kieran was blinded by the smoke, and the black energy was quickly filling up his lungs with poison. He coughed, spitting up poisoned blood and fluids from his lungs. He tumbled blearily, and fell right off the Gengar's head.

As he fell, his body transformed back into a human. The fur sunk, molding back into pale skin. The half open eyes resumed their grayish colour, and his senses returned to normal. He was hurtling towards the ground, hurtling towards death…

He vaguely felt himself being held to a small, warm body. He was also distantly aware that he had slowed down, and landed softly. He heard the soft thump of two legs hitting the ground, and heard the faintcry of his Sneasel.

"T-Thanks buddy…" Kieran said faintly. Sniper shook his head, reached inside Kieran's pocketand jammed an antidote down his throat with a paw. Kieran coughed again, but found he could breathe. He opened his eyes again, and panicked when he only saw black. He blinked multiple times to make sure he wasn't just seeing things.

"I-I'm blind!" He said, distressed. He leapt to his feet and looked around, but all he saw was everlasting night. The threatening tears started to overwhelm him.

He felt a fuzzy paw slide into his handand realized it was Sniper. The Pokémon patted his hand, and then jumped up and scuffed him on the head. Kieran blinked and looked down, exactly where Sniper was standing. He glared as the Sneasel punched him in the ribs.

He opened his mouth to retaliate, but then Sniper's intent became clear: Kieran was a full foot and a half taller then his ice-dark Pokémon, but Sniper got around that dilemma with jumping and strength ((sorry, must interrupt…oh no! It's another Assassin, Vinny!)). Kieran realized that, even with the (hopefully) temporary loss of his sight, he could still rely on his hearing and sense of smell.

"Thanks Sniper, you're the best!" He said, and he started to run off. Sniper blinked and looked after Kieran with a confused expression.

_I was just whacking him because he fell on me…_He thought.

Kieran bolted up and ran smack into Powerhouse the Tyranitar. He toppled over but jumped back to his feet. He heard the confused noise of Shadow the Umbreon and the heavy sighs of Bullet and…his younger self?

"What?" Kieran asked in confusion, listening for the source of the second sigh. "What're you doing here?"

"Your Absol came to get your team and tried to leave us behind!" He heard his younger self reply. Prowler barked in agreement. "So, we just followed anyway."

"You idiots, why did you-"

"LOOK OUT!"

Kieran felt himself being picked up by a strong hand and thrown aside just as an enormous crash sounded behind them. Apparently, the Gengar had gotten tired of sitting around and decided to remind them that he was their biggest problem. Young Kieran gazed up at the monster with a look of fear that reflected what they all felt.

"Does ANYBODY know how to stop a giant evil ghost/poison Pokémon!" Kieran asked, frustrated. There was a faint whooshing sound and a thump of 4 paws hitting the ground as Kokuei landed, tired of sitting on the Gengar and waiting.

'_No, not really,' _Kokuei said.

"But there must be SOME way to stop it!" the young Mightyena morph said desperately.

Kieran opened his mouth to reply, when a huge sound rent the air. Even the Gengar stopped to stare at it. 50 feet away from them, a giant rupture was forming in the air, a swirling green distortion in space. They all stared (including Kieran, who saw a faint greenish tinge to the blackness) at the swirling mass of colour, before 28 shapes of varying sizes dropped out. Then the green started to fade, leaving the bodies lying there. One stirred slightly and lifted it's head above the rest, blinking in utter confusion at it's surroundings.

It was Gaby.

She looked perfectly fine, with all wounds gone. Around her, the other humanoids and their Pokémon were waking up too, in similar conditions; Lily and Seth rose with groans of pain (back to their normal sizes), Kip was awakened with a prod of Seaflyer's wing, and Sparks proceeded to give the rest wakeup calls by giving them painful electric zaps.

The two parties rose, then stared at one another. There was silence as the large group looked from Kieran to his Pokémon, to his younger self and Prowler, up at the giant Gengar (who looked utterly bewildered as well), and then back down at Kieran. Kieran's group looked from the almost non-existent green mass above them, to all the Pokémon, and then to the trainers, looking completely lost. Gaby was the first to break the silence.

"What the hell!" She asked, her eyes flicking from the Gengar to Kieran.

"What the hell!" Kieran responded, looking from the green swirly-thing above the opposite party to Gaby.

"LOOK OUT!" Young Kieran cried for the second time. They all looked back at the Gengar, who had promptly decided that more people here meant more people to squash, and had thrown itself forward. There was not enough time to react: They were all going to be flat as pancakes in about 3 seconds.

Instinctively, Kipstruck up his hands to protect his head. Instantly a giant greenish-blue barrier formed around everyone. The Gengar hit it and was instantly thrown back. It landed 200 yards away from them, snapping trees like twigs.

Kip lifted his hands from his face and looked up, wondering why he was alive. He turned to see 36 pairs of eyes (Kieran was looking at the place where the Gengar had fell) fixed on him.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Kip…" Gaby said slowly, walking towards him. "What the hell did you just do?"

"I did something?" He asked, oblivious. Gaby thought she would test his newfound powers. She brought her hand up and brought it down hard onto Kip's head. His hands flew up to protect himself, and Gaby's hand fell short on a small green barrier that separated her hand from his head. Kip stared at it in wonder. Lily whistled loudly.

"Well that's useful," Kip said, lowering it when Gaby pulled her hand back. He grinned. "Hey, now Gaby can't beat me up anymore!"

"Wanna bet?" She said, and promptly began punching him out.

"GUYS, YOU CAN SOLVE YOUR LITTLE LOVE QUARREL LATER!" Kieran shouted. They both stopped and turned to him. Despite themselves, the rest sniggered at the comment before returning to the severity of the situation. "BUT RIGHT NOW WE HAVE A VERY BIG PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS!"

Indeed they did. Now, instead of having an enormous, evil and very bored Pokémon on their hands, they had an enormous, evil and very pissed off Pokémonon their hands. A giant black ball zoomed towards them, sending rock flying as it hit the ground. They managed to evade it.

"How do we beat something that big!" Lily and Kip asked, looking around for ideas.

"No idea!" Gaby and Kieran replied.

"But there has to be a way to beat it!" Young Kieran and Seth said.

"_Well I can't think of anything!" _Seaflyer and Silversong said. EVERYBODY sweatdropped.

"Hey…I have an idea," Kip said. They turned to him. "Let's beat the crap out of it from the outside and get someone to hack it to pieces on the inside!"

"Great idea. Who volunteers to go inside it?" Lily askedwith a sacsim-deadened voice.

"Kieran, what's wrong with your eyes?" Seth interrupted, looking at their short friend.

"Shadowy stuff from the Gengar's blood got in my eyes," He said. "I can't see. Gengar blood is poisonous to most people, but I forgot about that when I was hacking it's head to pieces."

"Well…since it can't do any more harm to you…" He said. Kieran blinked and glared at the source of the voice.

"Oh no. You're NOT sending me in there. NO WAY IN HELL." He said, stamping his foot on the ground for emphasis.

"_Kieran, you're the only one who can do it!" _Seaflyer said. Kip repeated the message.

"I-I'll go."

They all turned. The young Kieran was standing determinedly in front of them, Prowler at his side.

"We'll go in. You guys can do the damage from the outside, and Prowler and I will-"

"No way, kid," Lily said, shaking her head.

"You'd be rippedto shredsin there," Gaby said.

"SHUT UP!" He yelled back. Everyone went quiet. "I can do this!"

"We'll, not I'll," Kieran said. His little self turned to him, confused. So did the others. Kieran shook his head and looked back at the others. "I figure you guys had to go through similar trials. Now I'm going through with mine."

"When did you grow up?" Gaby asked in a mocking tone, but Kieran could tell she didn't want him to go.

"While you guys were wasting time, that's when!" He shot back. "See you guys later!"

He bolted off, his younger self following behind. Prowler and Kokuei looked at each other.

"Man, we have idiots for masters."

"Hell yeah."

"Shall we?"

"I think we shall."

With that, they bounded off after, catching up to their human-legged partners quickly. The others stared after them. Then Gaby whistled sharply. Her 6 Pokémon came to attention.

"Let's bust out of this goddamn nightmare already!" She cried. They answered with cries of enthusiasm and excitement. Then Gaby swung herself onto Silversong's back and took off towards the Gengar.

"_ALRIGHT!" _Came Seaflyer's cry. She flew under Kip and started zooming towards the battle, Kip clinging desperately to her neck. The rest of Kip's party followed after.

"I suppose we'll look like idiots if we stay back much longer," Seth said. Lily laughed. Seth climbed onto Sparks and Lily unfurled her wings. Together, they and their Pokémon took off.

The Kierans stood at the base of the giant Gengar, contemplating how they were going to get inside it. The only way they could think of was through it's mouth. But there was still the issue of getting up there.

Kieran stuck twofingers into his mouth and whistled loudly. Gaby turned towards the whistle and the blind wave of her Mightyena-Morph friend. She and Silversong zoomed towards them. She grabbed her friend by the collar, catching Kokuei as he jumped onto the low flying Lugia's back. Silversong's back paws closed around the other two.

"You've got one shot," She said standing up on her Lugia's back to hold Kieran steady. Her eyes a mix of bright blues and greens. Kieran grinned.

"Hey, don't worry about me. Just blast him apart out here while I blast him apart from in there," He said. They were now level with the Gengar, which had gotten taller. Gaby smiled, the green vanishing from her eyes.

"Alright," She said. Silversong blasted a weak Aeroblast at the Gengar's mouth to open it. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't die."

"I won't," He said. Then he leapt off Silversong and into the Gengar's mouth. Kokuei, Prowler and the other Kieran followed after.

"GO GET 'EM, KIERAN!" She yelled after him, cheering. Then she planted her feet firmly into Silversong's back and they sped off around the back of the Gengar. She slipped down onto his back, leaning flat against him.

"LET'S DO THIS!"

And with that, the battle began.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gaby: This is IT! We're busting out of this fake world once and for all!

Kip: We still don't know how to get out of here

Lily: We'll worry about that once we annihilate this giant monster.

Seth: Ah, my first battle for the whole Nightmare Saga…About time!

Kieran: Everyone's relying on me now…Let's do this!

All: DON'T MISS THE EXCITING CONCLUSION:

NIGHTMARE, PART V!

I honestly thought it would just be a 4 parter too, but by the time I was almost done writing it, it was 20 pages long (and I HATE sitting through incredibly long fanfictions…I no longer have the time. I skived off 8 pages of math homework to write this, and now my mother is killing me).

I have good news. Nightmare, Part V will be out next week. How can you trust me after waiting for many, many months? Why, because it's already written! So HA!

Also, be watching for an RG Christmas Special…If I can think of something. It all depends.

And for those who have played Tales...Go back to the last 4 lines. Gaby is Kratos and Kieran is Lloyd. Read it. Laugh your head off. And play Sheena for the last part too. Again, laugh.

**AND NOW THE BIG MOMENT OF REVEALINGNESS:**

THE OFFICIAL RG FANSITE!

YES! There is now an RG fansite. Please throwHalo/Pokémongamesat Ghost Author for getting it started, throw saxophones at Jo (or mail them, that might be less painful) for making the kick ass logo, and you could throw candy and/or plots and/or ideasat me for helping a bit. I'm currently working on doing a bunch of stuff, like descriptions, images, fanarts, etc. PLEASE submit fanarts! ALL WELCOME!

We apologize for the ads. We just don't have the money to keep them off.

And I apologize for the misspelling of the word 'Coming' all over the site. That was 100 fault (obviously).

Please keep in mind that it IS under construction.

**http/rg.biz.ly/**

There's the Url. Have fun.

How about a few review responses?

**B Boi:**

1. A little 8 year old girl? Hm…Interesting.

2. Hoorah, I love Seaflyer as well. She is AWESOME.

3. I see.

4. Hm…While that was a very nice (and repetitive) list of words…Nothin. Thanks though!

**Jo…**

(performs happy dance) Yay, detail is evil but makes it about 100 times better!

1. I thank you for the care you put into making me a new character person, especially since I know how much you play the games! (haha). Nice roster, with the exception of Raikou. I'm a little hesitant about whipping Legendaries out that they aren't the morph of.

2. KIERAN KICKS ASS!

3. Yes…I actually have Red. In my beloved Silver version. He's my 4th best.

4. Gotcha.

Let Me Go comes on as I'm writing this. HOLY HELL, LEAVE ME ALONE YOU PSYCHIC COMPUTER!

**Linkmaster27**

I think it's official that this was my best chapter. I only hope that this isn't the peak (meaning everything else will go down).

Yes, Gaby and Kip rule. Well Duh I like Gaby. MY VERY FIRST OC sniff sniff tear tear

Nightflyer? Odd choice, but cool.

**x636**

Ahh! runs from the wrath of misspelling

1. Kip I can see. But Seth? Interesting. Cool morph idea, but they are way to overdone. And I suck at writing for girls.

2. Kip? Wow. He's a lot more popular then I thought!

3. Raichu rule. Hence why Kip has one.

4. Hey, something's starting to click…!

**ChaosSora99**

Oh yay, a new reader! I always love people like you who can take the time to read through long works!

1. Oh yes. Kip as an Espeon morph would look fantastic. And Seth as a Mew morph I've gotten, but now it's really started to grow on me…Don't get your hopes up thought!

**Jordan R. Was Here**

Yes, I figured. And you have nothing to worry about: This story won't die until the earth explodes into little pink bunnies and Barbie lives and walks the earth as the queen of heavy metal. So, you have nothing worry about.

**detective ban**

Ooh, I better watch out. My mom doesn't believe me when I say I have fans that will kill me if I don't update…

1. Another Kip guy? Wow!  
2. YES DRAGONS OWN! Me - one of theworld's biggest dragon freak. I'm working on a couple info books on them.

(laughs) You sound like me when I'm begging Vinny (VoidMoon) for fluff. Don't worry.

**Kei the Miko Neko Hanyou **

Yes, hahaha, NO SPELLING ERRORS!

1. Hm. Everybody wants 14 year olds.

2. Of course. I didn't even need to ask you!

3. Yes, Red is Lily's. Easy way to remember: Gaby likes blue. She has a Blue one named Sapphire. Lily likes red. She has a red one named…Red.

**Fate's Dice Kyre-JMK**

1. Nice points. Kip as a Psyduck…bursts out laughing PRICELESS!  
Kip: (annoyed look)  
Seth…Rayquaza….I LIKE.

2. Yup, Kati was the Pichu girl. And a Seth lover! HOORAH! I like Seth. Seth is cool.

3. Patch, Darkfaller and Ironfight…DAMN you have good tastes.

4. WOW! I LIKE THE PHRASE! I'm gonna draw a pic of the group and that phrase! OOOOOOH!

**the french**

Ok, if you keep reviewing!

**LugiaAvianos**

And I urge you! KEEP REVIEWING! You people are my entire motivation! Thanks for the review

**Ghost Author**

MAN IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME! laughing

1. laughs But Ho-Oh and Lugia don't get along! But Kip as an Articuno…  
Aeryn: (glare)  
Ok, ok, nevermind…

2. YES! Kieran!

3. Red. People like Red. A lot. SO DO I!

**Saku-chan**  
Nice e-mail.

1. You're evil!

2. You like the girls, huh?

3. Hoorah! EVERYBODY should love Mightyena!

4. laughs Domoness!

**VoidMoon**

YOU BETTER WRITE! (cries) I WANNA READ MORE!

1. No, we're not having a Hunter character (though he is very cool!). But the ghost idea's not bad. I don't think we could stand to have 4 Lugia on set!

**The Gabbmeister**

(laughs) Well, I'm glad you like my fics. I'll continue to write as long as you people continue to review!

Alright! Until next time (which will be soon, I promise on my First Edition Lugia Holo)!

C YA!

_Ryu Takeshi_


	40. Ch40:Nightmare, Part V

Author's note: Ehe………….Right. Sorry it's a _tiny_ bit late, but I SWEAR I had no time. I've been working on this ENORMOUS report called an IRP (individual research project)…BUT WE GOT TO PICK THE TOPIC! So, of course, I did dragons. If you would like a copy of my 26-page report, or my powerpoint presentation, or my KICK ASS INTRO MOVIE, send me a shout at dragon 1 rogers . com (minus the spaces) and I shall give you proof why writing this chapter has taken so long.

And then we got ANOTHER IRP. So I did the history of rock and roll. It's pretty neat too.

Right. Enough of my rambling.

Oh

One more thing!

HAPPY YEAR BIRTHDAY TO RG!

And now on with the show!

NIGHTMARE, PART V

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The battle started. They started hammering the giant Ghost-like Pokémon from all sides. Lily's party took to the air, aiming for the eyes and head. Seth's party was doing as much damage to the right leg as the could, while Kip's party did severe damage to the left. Gaby and her team were simply circling around, spreading the damage as far as they could.

Kieran's team, however, was doing the most damage of all. Two of their friends were inside this monster, and they were going to punch a hole through it in anyway they could. Bullet was firing waves of water wherever Lucky struck a Thunder attack. Sniper was hacking away at the Gengar's middle, it's claws dripping sickeningly but satisfyingly with black blood. Shadow was pounding the Gengar with Shadow Ball attacks, driving it slowly back into the trees. And Powerhouse was recklessly smashing into every piece of Gengar he could.

"Aw, YUCK!"

'Yuck' was right. The insides of the Gengar were dripping with greenish fluids, making the surface below their feet (which was pulsating slightly) slippery. Except for the poisonous-looking glow coming from the unidentified toxic-looking liquids, there was no other light.

However, the worst thing for all four of them was the smell. Their sharp dog-like noses were picking up every putrid wave of gas as it breathed, creating a disgustingly musty, humid draft coming from above them.

"Let's get this over with," the older Kieran said. "Start using everything you've got on anything you see."

They did. Kieran started clawing at the walls (which were also pulsating and completely covered in the slimy poison) while his smaller counterpart did the same on the other side. Both Mightyena started to bite, rip and claw at the organs, causing severe damage.

(The two dog-like Pokémon didn't know who would die of what first: The Gengar from it's wounds, or them from the smell and taste of rancid flesh!)

The battle was raging with new ferocity. The Gengar had finally started to fight back. It started sucking all the heat from the air around it, killing the trees and freezing the ground. Seth managed to detach himself from the raging blood feud and darted over to Kip.

"Why's it doing this?" Kip asked, turning his head from the Gengar's leg to look at Seth. "I know Gengar suck the heat from the air, but frost?"

"Think of how big it is," Seth said. "And the heat is making it stronger. We have to get to anyone with a fire type and warn them. Flyer's currently recovering from a Shadow Ball blow, so…"

"I'm on it!" Kip said. Seth grinned and dashed back to his Pokémon. Kip looked to the skies to try and spot his Lugia.

He found her. She was being more violent then he had ever seen. She shot blasts of white light from her mouth, conjuring up torrents of water from the ground as well. She used her own body too, ramming into its side and whipping it with her tail. She was smaller then the Gengar, by at least 30 feet now (the Gengar was still growing: It had now hit about 50 feet in height), but she was doing almost as much damage as the members of Kieran's party.

Kip reached out with his mind, telling her to break off from the battle for a moment and come down. She obliged reluctantly, landing and dipping her head to face his.

"_We nee to find every fire-type out here and tell them to stop using Fire attacks," _Kip said hurriedly. _"The Gengar is feeding off of heat."_

"_Got it. Climb aboard," _She said hurriedly. He jumped on, and they took off at full speed, zooming towards Gaby.

Gaby was as vicious as Seaflyer had been, shooting powerful waves of Telekinesis at the foe. She stopped and turned to Kip and Seaflyer when they approached.

"Stop using S-Sapphire's fire attacks!" Kip said, his teeth chattering from the cold. "H-Heat makes the Gengar stronger!"

"Thanks for the info," She said, then called an order to the Charizard.

Their second and last stop was Lily. She stopped mid-flamethrower when Kip told her the news. She then conveyed the message to Red, and they both started resorting to more physical attacks.

They were just on their way back down when the Gengar let out a fierce howl of rage and pain. It's eyes erupted into a bright red, which made everyone falter, unsure of what to do. The only thing that kept attacking was Kieran's Tyranitar, who was oblivious to the change.

The ground around began to shake violently. The air around grew colder, to the point where Lily had to back away to keep her tail from freezing. The Gengar glowed pitch-black, except for the red eyes, and started to vibrate. Kip knew what was going to happen and shouted a warning, though it was pointless.

"Night Shade!"

Gaby realized it too. She sat up straight on Silversong's back and stared at the Gengar.

"Kieran…" She said quietly. "It's up to you now."

"We're not getting anywhere!" Kokuei cried after 10 minutes of relentless attacking. Prowler collapsed, panting hard, beside him.

"There's got to be another way," Kieran said. He was also exhausted, and his little self slumped against the floor.

"We can't do this!" The little Mightyena morph cried. "It's impossible!"

Kieran didn't say anything. He knew that he was right. There was no way to win against this monster.

Tears started to well up in his eyes. He was going to die, here, alone. Gaby and the others would give up hope, and probably die as well. A drop of water slid down from his blind eye as he fought not to cry.

He felt something warm and fuzzy nudge against his hand. He looked down and saw Kokuei standing there, nuzzling his hand.

It took Kieran a moment to register this.

He _saw _Kokuei.

"I can see!" He yelled. This seemed to fill him with new hope, and also with a sense of stupidity. Why the hell hadn't he thought of washing his eyes out as soon as he had been blinded? But that wasn't the issue right now. Kokuei wagged his tail and barked loudly. "And I have an idea!"

Without explaining himself, he started running down the tunnel-like insides, heading to wherever they lead. He needed to find the heart. If he could find the heart, then they could take down this monster once and for all.

At last they found it. They stood, awestruck at the sight. The heart was a giant pulsating mass of swirling black energy, which had several tubes coming out of it and leading to different parts of the ghost's body. The heart itself, apart from the steady squelchy beat, looked dead.

"Concentrate all your efforts on that!" Kieran yelled. Kokuei bolted up to it and started biting it and hacking it to pieces, followed by Prowler. The other two transformed and started doing the same.

Suddenly, they felt the….ground?...vibrating. They were all knocked off their feet, thrown this way and that in the sudden internal earthquake.

"What's happening!" Younger Kieran yelled.

"Night Shade!" Kokuei replied.

"Something of this size…Everyone outside will be obliterated if we don't stop this!" Kieran yelled in horror.

He flipped up onto all fours, and without waiting for anyone else, dived straight into the heart. The others watched him disappear into swirling blackness, but could do nothing.

_Pain. Undeniably brutal pain that surged throughout his entire body. His head was exploding in agony, brilliant colors, shapes, places and people flashing before his tormented mind and eyes. He screamed, a piercing scream that the Gengar felt throughout it's twisted form. The boy's nerves were on fire, each one feeling individual stabs of red-hot knives branding his skin. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think…He wanted to die. Anything to end this pain. He felt his mind going, nearly separating from his tortured body. He felt his consciousness slipping away. Yes, to end it…to stop the pain…_

And then, through his pain, he heard a distant scratching sound. He did nothing, but the scratching sounds persisted. Then a howl of pain that came from an unmistakable source:

His blood brother, Kokuei.

The howl of pain ended sharply, but it had already achieved it's purpose. He fought the surreal thoughts and completely shut down his brain. Kicking his body into instinct mode, he let his Pokémon instincts take over. Kieran wrenched his eyes open and shoved his arm out, acting on a feeling that held the key to his survival. He started destroying the heart from the inside, destroying anything he could claw, kick, snap or bite through.

Finally he felt a hard circular ball underneath his fingers. As soon as he touched this, he felt himself literally dying. The mind-numbing sensation returned, and his brain was forced to flare into action. But he knew this is what he needed. If he could get this, the pain would stop, he would die, but he would win.

Taking the largest risk a Pokémorph could, he half-transformed. He became stronger, but that was unimportant. What was relevant was that his mind teetered on the edge of permanently being a regular Mightyena's, no longer human. But this numbed the pain to a slightly less-than-bearable standing, and with a wrench and final cry of determination, he pulled the ball out of it's place.

He was shot out of the heart as an ear-splitting scream rent the air. Kieran blearily sat up, vaguely aware that he was covered in dark blood, and that the small ball still resided in his hand. He shut down his half-transformation with the last bit of strength he could muster, and felt the dog-like emotions and thoughts slip away to be replaced with human ones. He felt himself being pulled onto a fuzzy back, and then felt warm, stale air breeze past his face as whatever he was on started running. Then he only knew blackness.

"How are we going to get out of here!" The only conscious Kieran said, looking around wildly. "This Gengar's gonna topple, and us with it!"

"I don't know!" Prowler said, also looking around in a panicked frenzy.

"We have to place our faith in the others now," Kokuei said. He sounded calm, but his eyes were nervously flicking from one side to the other. "And is it just me…or is this room getting smaller?"

Indeed it was. The walls were caving inward, much to the horror of those trapped inside. In a few minutes, they would all be crushed and suffocated.

Gaby watched as the Gengar stopped vibrating and it's eyes started to dim. She looked around for the others. Kip was leaning against Darkfaller, both tired out and weakened. Lily was still fighting, but there was not much she could do. Seth and sparks were still fighting with Kieran's party, but both teams were getting to the point of exhaustion.

Her own party was tired as well. Half of them lay by Kip, while the others still fought relentlessly from behind: Dragonsong would not give up, and neither would Affection. They were high in the air, Affection on Dragonsong's back, and still attempting to pummel the ghost.

"They're not going to do it in time…" Gaby said. "There is no way in hell that they are going to bust this thing open to let the others out…"

Gaby knew what she had to do. She stood up on Silversong's back again, preparing to dive into the Gengar herself and save the dark types inside. But before she could move, a second white blur that was Seaflyer came up from behind them. Kip was shouting something, and Gaby turned to him, confused. He was standing again and pointing at something behind Gaby. She turned around again to see a red and black haired figure jumping off of the Lugia's back and right down the Gengar's throat.

"Seth?"

And then a very curious sensation tugged at the edge of her mind, a feeling she was used to, but with a different signature from anything she had ever felt. She blinked, trying to place what it was. A few more seconds of struggling and she remembered: A psychic signature. She blinked again, trying to comprehend it. It was faint, but she could tell she'd never felt anything like this before. A new psychic signature? Now? That was impossible!

…Wasn't it?

Something large landed a few feet away from the four terrified dark-types. They all turned to see what had joined them, and Kokuei recognized him instantly and barked a confused greeting.

"Hi Kokuei," Seth replied, looking at the four of them.

"What the hell are you doing here!" Young Kieran asked, dumbfounded.

"Oh, just decided to drop down for a visit," He said coolly. His grey eyes scanned the area in search of a way out, but found nothing.

"Yeah, well, bright idea!" Young Kieran shouted angrily. "Now we're ALL gonna die!"

"Nah….You're joking!" Seth said, his voice completely dead with sarcasm. The others were spared a follow-up comment when, on Kokuei's back, Kieran stirred slightly. He then proceeded to roll off of with a groan and hit the ground face-down, landing in a puddle of sickly green sludge.

"Yuck," He said, spitting out a mouthful of stuff and sitting up, rubbing his head gingerly. "Damn, my head..."

"You're alive!" Seth said, crouching down. Kieran opened his eyes to give him an annoyed look but jumped when he say who it was.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to-" Seth started, but stopped abruptly. They all stared at him in confusion. His eyes widened, and he doubled over, clutched his stomach, and yelled in pain.

"SETH!" Kieran cried, crawling over to him. "What's wrong!"

Seth didn't answer, but stumbled back into the wall. When a break in his yelling came, he stared at his right hand. A pure white mark was carving itself onto his palm. It was circular, with a line running from the top to the bottom left, and a second line drawing itself from left to right. A circle filled the bottom right hand blank spot, and above it were 3 small symbols, which looked like the letters from an ancient language. The first looked like a capital T, with three lines running up from the top, kinda like a candelabra . The second was a line with a smaller line in the center, like a lowercase t. The final was a vertical line with a triangle at the top, facing the right, like a capital P.

Seth stared, confusion on his face as he tried to comprehend they symbol's sudden appearance. For a moment, that seemed to be the only change (the pain had thankfully subsided), but then the marked hand started glowing brightly. He yelled again as the glow intensified and spread up his arm.

"What the hell's happening?" the smaller Kieran yelled in panic, backing away from Seth. Kieran tried to reach him but Kokuei grabbed his blood, slime, and sweat-soaked shirt in his jowls and yanked him back. Kieran cried in protest, but then stopped abruptly as he saw Seth.

His cries had stopped, and he was glowing brighter now then ever. But he was changing shape, too, if subtly. Then the glow faded, and all for of the dark type's jaws dropped.

Seth was still wearing the same clothes and didn't look to different at first glance. Look for more then a second or two, however, and he was clearly VERY different. His feet had become elongated, had three round toes and were covered in smooth, pink fur. A long tail, also covered in the soft fur, snaked out from his tailbone, widening in an oval at the end. Two pink-furred ears, roughly the size of a cat's, had appeared on top of his head, with black tufts inside. His eyes had also gone from their steely grey to bluish-grey. His hair was also a bit smoother at the back, while in contrast his bangs had gotten even spikier and a bit darker red.

"What?" Seth asked, oblivious to the change. As if to emphasize his recent metamorphosis, his right ear twitched.

"HOLY SHIT!" Kieran yelled, toppling over Kokuei as he moved away from the strange Seth-like creature.

"What!" He repeated. He looked down and spotted his reflection in the slime-filled pool Kieran had fallen in. His ear twitch again, and his eyes followed it's progress.

"WHAT THE FU-" He started to say, but just then reality resumed itself and they were all thrown violently into a wall as the lifeless Gengar started to fall.

"SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!" The small Kieran said, desperately clinging to Seth's arm. Seth opened his mouth to say something but shut it as he looked up and saw a giant chunk of rotted flesh falling straight for Kieran and Kokuei. They were going to be crushed: There was no way to move it or have them move out of the way in time.

Just then, Seth did a very odd thing. Instinctively, he thrust out his hand (coincidentally, the one with the insignia burned on it), and jerked his arm upwards. His eyes glowed bright orange around the edges, and as he swung his arm back, the huge boulder changed course and flew directly through the Gengar's hide. Seth's eyes dimmed back to their blue-grey self again.

Complete silence.

"Did I just-" Seth started, but then his eyes flared orange again and he felt himself being lifted into the air, zooming out of the newly created hole. The other four followed behind him, leaping into fresh air.

A hand clasped Seth's arm and he knew he was flying. He looked up and saw the very welcome sight of his orange-haired girlfriend bringing him to the ground. He looked around and saw Kieran and Kokuei on Silversong's back and the other Kieran and Prowler on Seaflyer's.

Seth felt his feet touch wonderful, non-pulsating /squishy ground and collapsed, weak-kneed as a sailor who had just stepped onto solid ground after months at sea. The Lugia landed a short way away.

"Thanks L-" Seth started to say, but was cut off when a foot wheeled around and slammed him hard in the side of the head, sending him flying. He hit the ground hard, seeing stars, but then was pulled upward roughly by the front of his shirt. For one wild moment, he thought the Teams (Rocket, Magma, and Aqua) had entered this freakish nightmare land, but when he opened his eyes blearily he was instead staring into the blazing eyed face of Gaby.

"Where's Seth?" She demanded, raising her fist for a punch.

"What?" he said in complete confusion. "I am Seth." He instantly regretted opening his mouth for anything as her fist soared into his jaw. Pain exploded in his head again.

"Nice try, but Seth isn't a Pokémorph!" She snarled, raising her fist again. Seth brought his hands up defensively.

"IT'S ME, YOU MORON!" He yelled.

"Prove it," She said vengefully. Who the hell was this slime-covered imposter, and where was the real Seth? She was sure this couldn't be him: Seth sure as hell didn't have a tail!

"Uh, uh, give me a minute!" He said, trying to think of some way to prove himself. "Uh…My name is Seth Kaden Sakio, I hate my father, I used to make Pokéballs when I was younger, I-"

"Information you could have easily tortured out of Seth," Said a second female voice. He turned, and of course, it was Lily.

"LILY!" He cried desperately. "Come on, it's me!"

"Right, and you just superglued those ears to your head for kicks, didn't you?" She said coldly. Seth immediately ruled her out as a possible identity-prover.

"KIERAN!" He called. _HE_ knew he was him…right?

"How the hell did you switch places with Seth so fast, and why would you expect me to believe it's you!" Kieran said (though Seth could tell that if Kieran was not so exhausted and his regular self, he would know it was really him. One, he had witnessed whatever had happened to him and two, his sense of smell wouldn't have lied).

"Kip…?" He said, sounding defeated.

"You have a goddamn _tail_, for crying out loud!" He said, in some mild state of shock. His eyes kept flicking to his tail, to his ears, to his feet, and finally to his eyes. "SETH DOESN'T HAVE A TAIL!" He shouted. Evidently his brain wasn't able to make a more in-depth statement.

"THERE!" Gaby said, and threw another punch at him. Seth ducked, but was caught hard in the face her tail. He tasted dirt and spat it out again.

"You've got 10 seconds to tell us what you've done with Seth," Gaby said. "One…Two…Three…Four….Fi-"

All Seth saw was a flash of yellow light and something tugging at the back of his shirt. The tugging intensified into a sharp yank and he was being dragged away from the group by a snarling creature. Panicking, he struggled, but stopped when a familiar bark reached his ears.

"Sparks?" He asked, blinking. He was released and his Manectric trotted out in front of him, sat, and cocked his head to one side, confused. It was Seth, but…Seth smelled a bit different now. And it wasn't the _l'eau de rotting-Gengar_ smell either.

"No way," Gaby said, taking a step back. Then she took one forward tentatively, bent down and leaned forward, examining Seth's face. "_SETH?_"

"THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU!" He said exasperatedly, but glad that he wasn't getting slammed in the face any longer.

"What the hell happened to you?" Lily asked, helping him up. Seth leaned on her gratefully.

"No idea. This just formed on my hand," He extended his right arm and showed the group his palm, "And…." He trailed off. A large head suddenly swiveled into view, and Silversong peered down at the mark. Seth held it up so the Legendary could see it better, as if the Lugia was a doctor examining a cut on his hand.

'_Wow,' _Silversong said, genuinely startled by something. _'No idea how that happened, but you've got the Lunar Mark.'_

"The what?" Everyone asked.

'_Every legendary Pokémon has it's own mark, and each one's different. See the symbols in the right hand corner?'_ He nodded to the section that contained the three odd symbols. _'In the ancient Pokémon tongue, that say-'_

"…Mew," Kip finished. He looked up at Seth. "You're a Mew morph."

"WHAT!" Seth yelled, stepping back from them. "How?"

'_Must have something to do with your father's blood,' _Silversong said with a shrug. _'There's no other reasonable explanation otherwise. No idea what could happen, either.'_

"What do you mean, what could happen?" Seth asked sharply, but Kieran cut him off.

"Hey, where'd I go?" Kieran asked, looking around for his smaller self.

"Come to think of it, where'd the Gengar go?" Kip asked. He was right: The Gengar was gone. It had completely vanished.

"WHOA!" Cried a voice. Everyone turned and saw Prowler and the smaller Kieran fading. Alarmed, the older counterparts bolted over.

"Hey!" Kieran yelled, reaching for the smaller Kieran's hand.

"It's ok," He said, blinking. "It doesn't hurt or anything." He held out his other hand. "Here. I picked it up after you fell."

Kieran took the object. It was the small black ball he had removed from the monster's heart. It was heaver then it looked, with moving swirls of dark grey inside it. He looked back up at his smaller reflection and felt a burning sensation behind his eyes.

"Noooooo!" The fading Mightyena morph wailed in mock-dismay. "I'm gonna grow up to be a_ sap!_" Kieran smiled weakly at the expression his mini-me made.

"Well, so long bro," Kokuei said, scratching himself behind the ear as he watched Prowler fade away.

"You're nice. You could at least say you had fun!" Prowler teased.

"You think getting swallowed by a giant ghost Pokémon, killing off my sense of taste and smell, and almost dying FUN?" He said in horror.

"Well…….You could….." Prowler said, ears drooping.

"IT WAS SO AWESOME!" Kokuei barked, then howled loudly. Prowler brightened and barked back.

And then they were gone.

"Wow," Lily said. "You handled that really well."

"Ah, it was nothing," Kieran said cockily, back to his old self. He gave a careless, movie-star shrug. "I just-"

But yet another sentence was lost, for that moment the ground shook violently and a huge crack opened up in the earth. Everyone scrambled to recall their Pokémon and run, but they only completed the first part of their plan. Before they had a chance to bolt, the crack opened wider and swallowed them into a dark abyss.

"You did it, Kip!" Said a familiar voice. Kip opened his green eyes and brushed his brown hair away from his face, staring up at the semi-familiar features of a young boy in white.

"Hi," Kip said. He was surprised that he wasn't aching all over; instead, he felt as good as new. He seemed unable to feel panic in this place, but the confusion as to why he was the only one here bugged him. Before he could open his mouth and ask the boy about it, his question was answered.

"Fine, in their bodies. Time has been frozen since you came here, and as soon as you return to your world, the bridge will be severed and the world will carry on normally."

"Then why am I here?" Kip asked, blinking. The boy looked around and floated closer. He spoke now in a quick and hushed voice, and Kip, sensing this was very critical, listened intently.

"Kip, things are being set in motion by your enemies." He spoke rapidly. "Things that nature did not intend. I can't speak directly, but I warn you to stay on your guard. Never let it fall.

"War is written by the winners. Sometimes, though, the liars tell the truth better then the trustworthy.

"There are two sides to every story. Understand me when I say this, _every_ story. It's your job as a human being to listen to both sides before you judge. This could be the difference between living and dying, and not just for you, but for thousands of people."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kip asked in confusing, memorizing everything the boy had said.

"Because I am neutral, and thus share information with both sides." He said. "I have spoken to one other of your group, Gaby, about this. Share what I have said with everyone, but be sure to keep your own interpretations to yourself."

"I understand," Said Kip, though he was thoroughly lying. The boy smiled at this.

"You may not know, but you will," He said, nodding.

"Will I ever see you again?" Kip blurted out. He quite liked this mysterious being of the Otherworld, even if he was probably the most confusing person he'd ever met.

"Let's put it this way…" He said, turning around. He turned his head back to look at him and smiled. "If you end up dying along the way, chances are I'll be here to keep you company."

While the prospect of imminent death was not all together nice to think about, it was comforting to know that the afterlife wasn't going to be a scary place. Kip smiled at this.

"Well…." The boy said, turning around and raising a foot to take a step. "Farewell!"

And in an instant, blackness consumed Kip's vision, and for a few moments he knew no more.

With a blinding flash of green light, all 5 friends regained consciousness. Kieran sat bolt upright, Lily jerked and looked up, and Kip sat up and blinked. Gaby sat up, wide awake and in no pain.

"Oh man…" Kieran spoke first. "What was that?"

"Gaby?" Kip said automatically, ignoring Kieran and looking at his previously-injured friend. She was healed completely, and silently Kip thanked Otherworld's generosity.

"Yeah, I'm ok," She said, sitting up and leaning against the cave wall. She looked around. "This is where we were before, right?"

"Yeah…" Lily said, also glancing around at the cave. "It-"

But the Unfinished Sentence Demon claimed another prize as a high-pitched strangled cry of terror rent the air. Everyone looked for the source and found the only member that hadn't said anything.

Except Seth wasn't there.

But floating over a pile of Seth's clothes, wearing his cloth-strip headband, was a Mew featuring spiky red bangs and grey-blue eyes, dumb-struck with terror at it's 1'6", 11 pound, pink-furred body suspended in mid air.

There was a complete, unbroken, dumbstruck silence for almost a full minute. Finally, everyone (minus the Seth-mew) spoke in unison:

"Oh my god."

And then, without warning, there was a short _BANG_, and a very brief flash, and a completely naked, red-faced, pink-tailed, mew-footed, furry-eared Seth was sitting where the mew had been, wearing the same dumbstruck expression.

As the girls' faces exploded into scarlet and Kieran burst out laughing at the scene, Kip had only one thought in his head:

_Oh, hell._

_This is gonna be interesting._

----------------------------------------------

Sakio: 005, I have a mission for you.  
005: Finally decide to give me a bit of action, huh? Ok, what is it?

Sakio: It's a bit different from the other missions I've given you…  
005: I can handle it, Dad. Spit it out.  
Sakio: I need you to kill.

005!!

DON'T MISS THE NEXT INTENSE CHAPTER OF ROGUE GENETICS!

Well, well, well. I wonder if you were all expecting that. As Kip said, this is _definitely_ going to get pretty interesting. Some things you get to know before the chapter-after-next comes out (since the next chapter has nothing to do with the Gaby group at all):

-Seth can use telekinesis

-Lily now affectionately calls him 'Pinky' and encourages you all to do the same

-Seth, a Mew morph, now spontaneously and randomly pops in and out of human form.

Again I apologize for taking eons to post (You're allowed to kill me, by the way, for my one-week lie). I do honestly say I had half the chapter written the day after I posted last time. But then we had to finish our IRPs….

And then we got another one.

It's due tomorrow, I'm finished, and it's RG's birthday. Rejoice, Rejoice! So, just to make really big deal out of it…

HAPPY 1-YEAR BIRTHDAY TO RG!

A few other things to say:

One, the new RG website is:

http/ should really go, and I swear this summer I will put up fanart and junk.

Two, I have created a website for me, my characters, and RG. I also have some of my compositions and drawings up there, so stop by if you're interested. You can also find some RG profiles (crappy, yes, but I will redo them sometime) there as well in the Profiles section. Here's the link:

http/ there we go!

Later!

Ryu T./Gaby


	41. CH41:A New Alliance

Author's Note – Alright, I give you all permission to blow my brains out with Bazookas. Please do, at least the guilt will go away!

I will admit it: I am the laziest person I know. I must suffer from chronic laziness or something. Bleh. Sorry. I'm evil. Kill me. Please.

Or not.

It's up to you.

Anyway, during my long silence, however, something miraculous happened: I got hit with a serious pang of inspiration. Where before I was worrying about what I would do for the series, now I have a full 50 or so chapters roughly sketched out in my mind. So ha!

I also lied about the preview at the end of Nightmare, Part V. 005's little adventure will come soon, but not this chapter.

Thank you for being so kind, all of you. I apologize to people who's stories I haven't gotten around to reading yet: They're still in my inbox in a folder called 'Fanfics'. I haven't forgotten you!

Now let me shut up and get one with the story!

-R. T.

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"Hold the left wall! I think she's caving in!"

"They're breaking through! The east end can't hold them back much longer!"

"North end is breached! Everyone, fall back to the south end!"

Screams and commands cracked through the air like lightning, resonating off the cave walls. Kip turned wildly, blasting any in front of him with psychic energy. Lily stood beside him, attacking the infiltrators in the same wild manner. Gaby and Kieran were at the east end. Cries from children calling for their parents, friends calling for friends, and the moans and screams of the dying echoed throught the cavernous halls.

Suddenly Kip was caught off guard by a larger-than average Kangaskan, and with a pang of horror saw the club wielded by it's Tauros Pokémorph's owner sailing towards his head. With a gut-wrenching crack, it collided with his head, and he knew no more.

---

_Six months earlier…_

Seth grumbled irritably as he slipped his dirt-covered jeans back on. He could hear the girl's giggles from all the way back there, and Sparks' rolling eyes didn't help much either.

"Shut up!" He called ahead, trying to silence the laughter. Unfortunately, this seemed to have an opposite effect, because now Kip and Kieran were forced to pause while Lily had a downright laughing fit.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Lily gasped, straightening herself. "It's just…"

Lily was cut off by a sharp popping noise and a groan. Where Seth had been standing there was now only a pile of clothes, and banging his head against a tree was a pink-furred and very angry Mew-Seth.

"Oh brother…" Kip said, smacking his forehead with his hand and turning his back on the scene. Lily went over to gently pry the near suicidal morph away from the tree while the rest continued on.

Six months, and they were still without a destination or goal.

Six months, and they were still getting used to the effects the incident had had on them.

Six months, and everyone still chuckled a little whenever they heard a popping noise.

The 'Nightmare' incident, as they had come to call it, had had a profound and lasting effect on some of their members. Some of these effects, like Kip's newfound psychic powers, were good. Most, however, were bad. For example, Kieran's mystical black orb that he removed from the Gengar's corrupted heart was a mystery to all of them, and Kieran spent many hours brooding over it's purpose. Lily was mostly unchanged, but occasionally dwelled on the image of Seth's mother and the younger Sakio, wondering what went wrong. She was too afraid to ask Seth about it, though. Gaby had been off for a while and suffered from terrible nightmares, but as the months passed they slowly faded away.

The most obvious change, however, was Seth's. They gains were easily outweighed by the downsides, and after a week of spontaneously popping from a completely human form, to a morph form, to a Pokémon form and back again every hour or so, Seth had had enough. He'd begged Silversong and Gaby to try and come up with a cure, or at least an explanation, and Silversong had come up with this:

Sakio had obviously done something to Seth's genes when he was still in the womb, not wanting his son to be forced to live the life of an outcast. However, the research on this sort of topic was extremely limited, so while whatever he did worked for the most part, remnants of the Mewtwo DNA still resided in his genetic code. Also, any human-created DNA would have been easy to get rid of, while the natural strands would be harder to thwart. Therefore, the lab-born Mewtwo DNA would have been stripped from the pure Mew DNA, leaving only that there.

Seth verified that all that was conceivable and made sense, but was still not satisfied. Even if the Mew codes had been in his genes, why had they awakened? Gaby had come up with that answer.

"It's simple, really," she'd said. "Basically, when your body was put under a lot of stress and knew it was going to die, your brain subconsciously activated the Mew part of you. You have a totally human form because that's what the majority of your DNA is made up of, and all morphs change back and forth between their forms when they're first born. You usually gain control in about two weeks to a month."

Well, that mystery had been solved, but the problem of Seth's spontaneously changing still existed. If Gaby and Silversong were right, then there was no way for him to regain normality. In addition, he was 5 months overdue for being able to control his transformations, and he was tired of having to redress every time he changed from a Mew into a human. He'd abandoned wearing a shirt altogether after four months.

Seth was also as out of control with his new powers as he was with his ability to stay in a form. Gaby had at first had tried to teach him how to use his psychic abilities. He followed her instructions perfectly, but when she told him to try lifting an empty Pokéball, only Gaby's reflexive shields saved them all from death by tiny fragments of red-and-white ball. Surprisingly, when she had him try again in exactly the same way, he could only make the ball twitch. The third test (which she only called a test afterwards, though everyone knew she was just frustrated) was the only one which had results that made sense. When she whipped a rock at his head, he immediately stopped it in mid air and caught it reflexively, without realizing how he did it.

"Dammit! When is this going to stop happening?!" Seth shouted angrily after he'd turned back and pulled on clothes again. "I can't live like this!"

"And I can't live with your whining all the time!" Kieran muttered. He was in a foul mood already from missing breakfast, and Seth's complaining wasn't helping. Surprisingly, Seth shut up, and they walked in silence for a full ten minutes before he suddenly stopped. When Kieran rolled his eyes and Kip opened his mouth to say something, Seth just held up a hand and closed his eyes in concentration.

"He's a sharp one, isn't he?" said a voice. It was male, near adult maturity, and was very close.

"Yeah, he looks really familiar, too…" said a second voice. This one was a girl's, a young teenager's, close but also vaguely recognizable.

"Show yourselves!" Seth shouted. The others except for Kip had heard them speak as well, though Kieran looked very puzzled about the identity of the second speaker. Seth's call, however, was answered in silence.

Lily scanned the area. They were surrounded by mountains to the east and south, with a forest about a quarter of a mile to the west. Close to midday. No one else around, and nowhere to run if this was an attack. The tense mood, however, was broken when a girlish scream rang out from behind some ferns.

"KIERAN!!!!"

And the next thing they knew, Kieran was on the ground, alarmed and scarlet-faced, with a girl on top of him, hugging him hard.

"Ohmygod! I can't believe it's really you!" The girl said happily. Everyone stared, too startled and confused to move.

"Um, who ar-" Kieran started, but then he looked directly into her face and blinked a couple times. Then his expression turned from alarm to surprise. "_Kati?!_"

"Way to blow our cover, Mitamuro!" said the first voice as Kati rolled off the stunned Mightyena morph and turned back to her ex-hiding place. Now there was a boy standing there, shaking his head in embarrassment and annoyance. Kati scampered back over next to him, head bent a little and face slightly red.

The boy was clearly a Sandslash morph. His hair was chin length, dark brown, and cut jaggedly as though it was done by hand without the luxury of a mirror. He surveyed the crew as they surveyed him with light, brownish gold eyes. He was fairly muscular and very fit, and at 6' was rather tall for a mouse Pokémon. He looked a little odd, even for a Pokémorph: the right half of his body was human, while the left half was more Pokémon. For example, his left hand was a claw, like his relative Pokémon's, but with 4 digits instead of two. They were also more separated like digits, which would grant him an impressive grip on just about any surface. His right hand was human, other than having longer and sharper nails. His back was loaded with the hard brown spikes of the Ground-type mouse Pokémon, as good as any armor you could find anywhere. His left foot was like his hand: four digits, shorter claws, inhuman gripping capabilities. The spikes on his back prevented him from wearing a shirt easily, so instead he just wore a long, heavy brown coat and sturdy brown pants. Strange crescent-shaped brown markings covered his sides, though many scars fought for space among them. His lack-of-shirt revealed that he had no nipples or navel, confusing all but Seth, who knew this marked him as a lab-born. It was a common trait to have those healed over because of the immune system boosts they received while in the tube. The others just knew he couldn't have been a natural born like Kieran and Kati because of the blue barcode tattooed in blue ink on his stomach.

When they turned their eyes to Kati, they didn't feel so bad for not recognizing her: she looked vastly different from the short 10-year old girl they had met almost a year ago. Her hair was black at the roots with yellow tips, falling down to her shoulders. Her eyes were the same, the brilliant mix of yellow and black they'd always been, bangs mostly covering her right one. She wore loose jeans and a plain black t-shirt over her small frame, though she'd had a couple growth spurts since the last time they'd seen her, which, much to Kieran's dismay, made her taller than him. Kati, unlike many Pokémorphs, decided to wear boots over her furry and inhuman feet, instead of just going around barefoot. She had evidently grown incredibly stronger as well, for instead of a Pichu tail and ears, she now sported those of a Pikachu. But apart from her drastically changed appearance, the biggest difference was the lack of childishness in her eyes.

"Sorry, sir…" Kati mumbled, but glanced up with a sheepish smile at Kieran none the less. "It's just that, well, I know these guys. These are the ones that saved Patch."

Those words seemed to lighten the mystery boy's serious attitude, and he instead eyed each one of them in turn. Normally, the group would have fled or started asking questions, but since Kati was with the unfamiliar guy, they decided to shut up and stay put.

"Gabrielle, right?" the boy said, addressing Gaby and extending his hand. She blinked in surprise, then fixed him with an iron stare that usually sent Kip running for cover.

"It's Gaby," she answered slowly, shaking his hand warily.

"I'm Tyson, Tyson Valeblade," He answered. He paused for a moment, then smiled awkwardly. Gaby was slightly taken aback: he looked a lot like Kip when he was feeling out of place.

"Whoa, Seth! When did you get a tail?" Kati said. Apparently she'd just noticed the black-and-red-haired teenager standing in the background, trying not to be seen. He stood up straight and stiffened when she ran up and hugged him too.

"Uh, a-about six months ago," he answered when she released him.

"I'm sorry, but how the hell do you two know each other, and why were you hiding from us?" Lily asked, looking from Kati to Tyson.

"It's a lot to explain," the Sandslash morph said. "As painfully cliché as it is, you might want to sit down for this. But first….Do you have anything to eat?"

--------------------------

"What is it with us and giving new people food we really don't have?" Gaby muttered as she sat down on a log. They'd relocated to the forest and managed to scrounge up some grub for Kati and Tyson to snack on, leaving their supplies worse then pitiful. Now they were all sitting and waiting for their explanation.

"Alright," Tyson started. "I'll be blunt. Kati and I are part of an underground organization of Pokémorphs, humans and Pokémon who's main goal is to destroy labs that use science for malevolent purposes. We also try to rescue and recruit as many victims as possible…We mostly target laboratories that are trying or have succeeded in creating Pokémorphs and artificially created Pokémon."

"Geez, when he said he was going to be blunt, he wasn't kidding…" Kip mumbled. He was silenced by a shushing noise from Kati.

"Whoa, so you're like a bunch of freedom fighters who wipe out people like Sakio?" Kieran asked.

"James Sakio?" Tyson asked, looking at Kieran in mild confusion. "How do you know-"

"He's the one that made me and Lily what we are," Gaby said. "He's trying to get all of us now. We've thwarted him before, screwed up a lot of his plans and his lab."

"No way!_ You're_ the guys that did all that?" Kati asked in awe, though the group had no idea what she was talking about. Tyson also looked at them in mild shock and respect.

"You guys are fairly famous at the Org," he said. "Your multiple attacks on Dr. Sakio's lab and battles you've fought with the whole RAM group are common talk."

This surprised them all a fair bit, and silence fell for a minute as they all contemplated how they were so well known without knowing it themselves. Then Kip spoke up again.

"So what exactly do you two do, and how did you find us?" he asked.

"We send spies out to locate the labs and find out what they're doing. That's what most of our human members do, unless they're scientists themselves."

"You guys have your own docs?" Lily asked.

"Of course," Kati answered. "Just because there are some evil scientists out there doesn't mean they're all bad, or that science is bad. That's like the prejudice Pokémorphs get: people see one bad one in the bunch and they hate the whole race."

"Anyway," Tyson continued, "once we know where the labs are and how to penetrate them, the higher-ups put together parties of humans, morphs, trainers, and Pokémon to destroy them. The battles are…very dangerous. Often in a team of 15, only half will make it out." He trailed off into silence, so Kati picked up where he left off.

"When we're at the labs, we try and free as many of our kin as possible. Since they're our priority, most of them make it out alive, and a lot are so grateful to us for rescuing them that they decide to join our cause. We don't force them, though: a lot just go their separate ways…Still, most of them come back because they can't find a safe place to live anyway.

"After everyone's freed from the lab, we gather all hard copies of the info, burn any duplicates or backups, then BOOM!" She said the last word loudly and snapped her fingers, firing a spark into the air with a loud _crack_.

"What she means is we blow up the lab and get the hell out of there before the authorities arrive," Tyson explained, smiling. "Then we just take the info back to headquarters, pump it into the computer, destroy the originals and go about our normal business."

"Some life you guys lead," Seth said. He'd been quiet this whole time, but the fact that he hadn't spontaneously turned into a Mew through the whole explanation had boosted his confidence. "So how'd Kati get involved in this?" He turned to Tyson. "I know you're a lab born, so you were probably rescued and decided to join the…Org, did you call it? But I don't understand how Kati got involved."

"I…" the Pikachu morph started, eyes cast to the ground. She paused, then looked up and tried again. "About three months after you left, people started coming to our house. Dad always got nervous whenever they came, but he refused to tell me anything. A few weeks later, some people from the Tonen lab came and tried to kidnap me for research. Dad…they got him while he was fighting them off." Her voice broke here, but she continued on. "Patch managed to escape, but they got me and took me back, locked me in a cage and ran tests on me. A little while later the Org came and saved everybody, and I decided to join.

"I had nowhere else to go, you know? And guess who told the Org about the Tonen lab and what they were doing? Patch!" She said, brightening considerably. "I found him there right as I arrived, and this wannabe tough guy was looking after him!" She said, beaming at Tyson.

"Mitamuro…"

"Sorry, sir."

"I'm sorry, but why are you telling us all of this?" Kip asked. Tyson and Kati both blinked, as though he had asked a stupid question.

"To put it simply," Tyson said, and now the seriousness was back. "The Org asks you to join them."

Gaby politely asked for the two to leave them and come back at nightfall (which surprised them all, for they'd never heard Gaby ask for anything politely in their time together). The pair agreed and left, disappearing into the foliage and out of sight. When she was sure they were out of earshot, she sighed heavily.

"Well…What do you all think?" she asked, gazing around at them, looking for input.

"Sounds great! We should join them as soon as freakin' possible!" Kieran burst. Clearly, he'd been wanting to say that ever seen he'd laid eyes on his old crush.

"I don't know…" Kip said hesitantly, "It's a big decision. I don't imagine they like people leaving once they get involved, for security purposes and everything. If we decide to go, we're stuck with them for life."

"Then that's a life worth living for!" Lily said aggressively. "I mean, come on, what have we done in the past year? Run around, busting up that bastard's lab every now and then, causing a bit of ruckus-"

"And saving a town from impending doom!" Kip countered, matching Lily's passion.

"Well, right, but other than that, we've done nothing of important consequence in the grand scheme of things!" Seth answered before Lily could even speak. Everyone stared at him, and he grinned sheepishly.

"Where on earth did you learn all those words?" Lily asked incredulously.

"I lived with scientists, remember?" He answered, and Lily just shook her head.

"I dunno, Kip has a good point…" Gaby said. Kip smiled, glad that someone else was on his side. "We commit to this, we commit for life."

"You serious, Gaby? You'd rather wander around pointlessly on useless little adventures rather than actually make a difference? 'Cause if so, you're not the fighter I thought you were," Lily said, and then, in a tone of finality, she stood up and said, "I'm going. I don't care what anyone else says, but I'm following them. Who's with me?"

Kieran bounced up onto his feet immediately, and Seth rose shortly afterward. Gaby glanced at Kip, then stood up slowly. They all waited for Kip to move…but he didn't.

"I'm sorry," he said. Lily nodded understandingly. He was, after all, the only one of them that _could_ back out. The rest of them would be outcasts wherever they went because of their features, but Kip was still human. He could go out and live a normal life.

"It's alright, Kip," Seth said. It was painful for him to go along, but because of the Nightmare incident, he no longer had the same freedom as Kip to walk around as a human in the normal human world. "We understand."

"Yeah, we'll contact you when we can!" Kieran said, in an effort to comfort him.

"Aw, come ON!" Gaby said loudly, and the rest jumped and looked at her. She grabbed Kip's arm and tugged him upright, making him look at her in confusion and bewilderment.

"Gaby, it's my decision," Kip said sadly, casting his sight to the ground.

"No, it's not! You're sticking with us!" She said defiantly, stamping her foot. Kip's face grew more red as she continued, "You've been us this far, and when we finally get a chance to do something that matters, you're just gonna take off on us and leave?"

"But-"

"No 'but's! Kip, I thought you were stronger than that."

"I'M NOT!" He yelled, so loudly that a flock of Spearow took off in fright from a nearby tree. The whole forest seemed to go silent. "I'm not. I can't handle it, Gaby, I just…I thought I wanted to be a hero 'n all, and I though I could do it, but…I'm…I can't."

He tried to tug his arm away, but she wouldn't let go. Gaby's eyes were a burning, flickering sea of colours, her expression irritated but not angry, as if she still didn't believe he was serious. She tried to tug his arm up again, but to no avail. She repeated the step, and again Kip remained immobile. Finally, she tugged hard, eyes gone red in anger, and Kip yelled and blasted her off with a surge of psychic energy. He stood upright, looked at Gaby, who had flown into a tree and was staring dazedly at him with eyes coloured light purple in confusion and tinted with pigments of light green for sadness.

"I'm…sorry," Kip mumbled, ashamed. Then he picked up his backpack and ran, glancing once behind him before he disappeared from sight.

The rest stood dumbstruck. Of all the people who could behave irrationally, none of them had ever expected Kip to be the one to react as such. True, he'd been acting strangely for a while now, but they had all assumed he'd snap out of it and return to his normal, naive, happy self. Gaby was still staring at the place where Kip disappeared, tears welling in her eyes. The rest averted their gaze, allowing her as much privacy as they could as she screamed and telekinetically launched object after object after him, slipping into Pokémon languages that, now that Kip was gone, the whole group could understand. After several minutes, she stopped, wiped her burning eyes and faced the rest, acting as though nothing had happened and Kip had never been there.

"Well, then it's decided?" She voiced, the language out of Pokéspeak and back to normal. "We all go forward and make a difference?"

Slowly, everyone nodded, and Gaby sent out a telekinetic signal for Kati and Tyson to return. They did shortly, and said nothing about Kip being absent; by the sad look in Kati's eyes, Gaby had already warned them not to mention his name again.

"Well, shall we go then?" Tyson said cheerily, lightening the mood somewhat with the after comment of, "It's only a two day's hike, and once there, we'll feed you all so much you'll forget what hunger feels like!"

The group collectively moved to collect their things, but paused again for a giggle or two as they heard Kati shriek in surprise and Tyson laugh as with a short _pop_, Seth turned pink and fuzzy and buried his head into a tree.

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Sweet, it's done! Shorter, but done. Better than nothing, right?

Now for some more info. I have become addicted to World of Warcraft. Don't hate me. Play on the server Velen and add Arthiria. Also, Hellsing FTW!

Anywho. Wow, Kip left! Surprised me, wasn't in my fifty gazillion pages of planning! And in spelling 'gazillion', I learned that Word recognizes it and automatically corrects it. Neat, it corrects incorrect words! Whoa, that's confusing!

BLAH.

If you're reading this, I love you for being so faithful. The offer to kill me is still open!

Questions? Comments? Death threats? I love being made to feel like writing is still worth something (even if it is a death threat!) Please review.

And finally, I feel it's important to get it out why I managed to begin writing again. There's this kid, right? His name is Lawrence, and he's super. He also loves to quote everything I say and imitate me. He's read RG and has been quoting back at me lots of embarrassing typos and decent segment's I've written in the course of writing this fic. I think it's his repetition that's subconsciously guilt tripped me into writing this again, so I thank you, Lawrence. Seriously.

And Joey? I MISS YOU! TT

Much obliged and ever so grateful you're still with me,

R.T.


	42. Ch42:The Underground and 005's Mission

Well, here it is, at long last. Lots of new reviewers (and complaints from the regulars, haha) got me to write this. I'll have you know I had a lot of people mad at me, because apparently I picked a terrible time to get inspiration and write this. Be grateful? Please?

I can't really give an excuse, other than no inspiration. I have pages of ideas for this story, but no way to connect the dots. So, sorry if this is a meh chapter, but I'm trying my best.

That, or I'm just scared that the evil white midgets and a mob of angry fans are going to find my house and take me away. ^^;

On with the show!

NOTE: I Just rewrote chapter one as well. Go check that out!

-----

"So this is it?"

After a two days' hike, they reached what seemed to be just another boring stretch of sand, located in the desert area of Hoenn. It'd been a bit of a chore to avoid all the archeology nuts on the way in, but with Tyson's successful leading they'd managed to work their way past them without incident. They were all parched, and, having completely eliminated all their food supplies, very hungry as well. Seth's Tropius was too thirsty to produce anything more than yellow stubs of fruit on its chin, though they had eaten those as well. Gaby was at her breaking point, and Lily was so close to snapping none of them dared to get within punching range.

"Alright, where in hell's name are we going?!" Lily said, stopping. Tyson looked back irritably.

"Honestly, I thought you were a Char morph. Shouldn't you be a little more resilient to heat?" he said.

"I would be if I'd had a drop to drink in the past twenty four hours!" she countered, hands balling into fists. Kati skittered between them, then pointed at very smooth reddish rock about ten feet away. Tyson brightened immediately at this and turned to address the rest of them.

"We're almost there," he said. "It's just a few minutes away from that rock, towards that cliff." He pointed purposefully towards a barren cliff that had been looming in the distance for some time now, and only once they stopped and look did they realize how close they were to it.

"I don't see any sign of a safe house out here…are you sure the heat didn't fry your brains?" Kieran asked, his stomach growling. As Kieran was used to simply hooking his Pokéballs onto his belt and didn't have a bag, carrying the small yet strangely heavy sphere had become a bit of a problem. So, after hours of complaining, Tsyon had whipped up a bit of a show in Pokémon form in front of an archeologist, allowing Kieran in Mightyena physique to dart in and snatch a backpack away. All that had been inside it were some maps and a journal with scrawls of seeming gibberish, but it was big enough for Kieran to put his things in. Unfortunately, now he complained about a backache, and in the heat had become more annoying.

"Just shut up and walk," Tyson groaned, fed up with the constant complaining from all sides. "Honestly, for heroes, you guys whine a lot!"

"Here!" Kati said happily, breaking up the argument before it got a chance to start. She scurried forward and jumped. In mid air, she flashed a brilliant yellow and the next second hit the ground on all fours as a Pikachu, clothes in a pile behind her, dashing ahead until she was smack in front of a piece of cliff that looked no different from any other part of the cliff at all, except for two tiny carvings about fifteen feet above their heads.

"What's that?" Seth asked, pointing up at the little notches in the cliff face.

"We don't actually know," Tyson said, "but it's how we found this place." He looked around cautiously, then placed his hand tentatively on the rock. He muttered something, and Kati did the same as him, still a Pikachu, reciting the foreign words in Pokémon after him. This simultaneous chant gave them a translation of what Tyson was saying, which was, 'By the will of hope, open this seal in the name of those that seek shelter from the world.'

They all jumped back and made noises of astonishment as, before their eyes, the two scratches in the rock above them glowed red, and literally moved across the surface of the rock. Everywhere the markings moved, the rock cut away like butter, until an archway was formed and the rock disintegrated into dust. Tyson gathered up Kati's clothes and moved inside, followed by his partner. The rest of the group followed after into the darkness of the cliff. Kati then placed a small yellow paw on the wall.

"In the name of trust, reseal the door," she said in Pokémon. They assumed the mysterious runes had come alive on the other side again, because sand burst up from the ground in front of them, glowed bluish white, and become solid, utterly unremarkable rock in a matter of seconds.

It was very dark where they were, but Lily's tail offered some light for them to walk down the spiraling staircase, evenly cut out of the stone but somewhat weathered by the amount of feet that had padded on it over the years. Once they reached a certain point, small electric lights appeared on the walls to light their way.

They turned down one more spiral and reached a large cavern. A couple of them gasped at the sight. The cavern was massive, with smooth brown walls that formed a domed ceiling. There were tables with computers, screens with giant monitors mounted on them, a podium at the far part of the room with a man giving a speech that echoed throughout the caverns. But perhaps the most surprising were the inhabitants of this room; before them was the largest collection of Pokémon, Pokémorphs and humans they had ever seen. There must have been a thousand in this gigantic room (though, some of the larger Pokémon and morphs may have given the impression that there were more, and Kieran could have sworn he saw a Mr. Mime morph double-teaming himself into 5 or 6 copies).

Gaby was about to ask a question, but Tyson put a finger to his lips in an order to be quiet, then pointed at the man on the very distant side of the room. Even though he was so far away, his voice boomed over speakers mounted around the room. Tyson and Kati looked at this man with respectful awe, and even though the rest of them couldn't see him very well, they listened intently to the speech.

"…must not let the victory over the Lavender Genetics Research Center get to our heads," the man said. His voice was strong, powerful, and inspirational, but very gruff. "There's still the work in gathering information on the Southwest Coastal Mines near New Cinnebar in the Kanto region that we have to remember. Our escaped brethren, rounded up and forced into slave labor, is as bad as the experimentation they endured.

"We must persevere! Blue team, gather information on the exact coordinates and layouts of the mines. All of them," he demanded, military-like. He was answered with a firm, "Yes Sir!" that could be heard even from back here. A large group got up and immediately scuttled to the general right side of the room, and began working away.

"Green team, assemble two Contact Teams and send them in to get a look at what's going on. Orange team, begin arranging transportation for both of the Contact Teams and the full wave." Again, he was answered with an affirmative cry and two smaller groups rose from their seats, predominately humans. One of them went to the front left side of the cavern, the other went behind the podium and exited through a door, into another tunnel.

"Red team, this is not a normal catch and release operation. Develop new means to secure our brothers and sisters, while finding a safe way to demolish the mine and all evidence." A group of about twenty-five people, the majority Pokémorphs, and Pokémon rose and scurried out another door to the left. They must have said something to acknowledge his command, but they were so few that they couldn't hear them all the way from the back of the cavern.

"Purples and Yellows, return to normal activities and await specific instructions," he said. They all gave their cry and dispersed, some returning to monitors, tables and boards scattered around the room, while others left through various doors.

"…Right, come on," Tyson said, and started walking towards the podium. The rest followed. Kati looked a little nervous, which made them all nervous, but she noticed this and gave them all a reassuring smile.

"The Lieutenant is just a little…overwhelming at times," she explained. "Don't be too scared of him."

As they progressed, people turned half interestedly from their work to look at the strange passersby. While the newcomers were shocked at the fact that, while some of the Pokémorphs wore garments of their colored regiment, many were wearing little to nothing at all. Kieran, the youngest, couldn't help but blush fiercely and avert his eyes from the various naked people, though the rest had tints of pink to their faces as well. The inhabitants of this place, however, seemed flabbergasted at the sight of them as well, and stopped. A hush followed wherever they passed, so by the time they reached the stage, the room was very quiet.

"Lieutenant, sir," Tyson said. The man turned. Now that they were close, they could get a good look at him. He was a Pokémorph, not as strange as Tyson's breed of half-and-half, but certainly not Gaby's and Lily's predominantly human version either. He was fairly tall, around 6'0", and looked exceptionally fit. His hair was spiked up, a sort of tan-brown color. His skin was the same color as his hair, and the front of his head sloped up and back into 5 separate spines, hard and flat, the middle being the largest and scaling down. His shoulders were bony, triangular and pointed out, past his muscled arms. His hands were quite large, nail-less and thick knuckled. His legs were sturdy, but not as well developed as his arms. He wore a white shirt and gray jacket with an emblem on the right side (it had to be custom cut to let his abnormally shaped shoulders fit through), matching gray pants and clean running shoes. He had scars all over his face and hands, and looked well-worn, in his forties, but still alive and kicking. Or rather, punching in this case, because he was undoubtedly the product of binding the DNA of a human and a Hitmonchan.

"Scout Tyson, isn't it?" He said, looking at him with some interest. He hadn't noticed the curious but nervous entourage he had tailing him. "And Kati?"

"Yes sir," they both answered. This was the point where the Lieutenant's eyes looked past the faces of his familiars and over the faces of the group. His brown orbs widened in shock and surprise as he traveled over them one by one. He hopped down from the stage to get a better look. The girl with the white bandana and Lugia appendages, the boy with Mightyena ears, the girl with the flaming tail and an already suspicious and hardened expression, and the black and red haired boy who looked completely normal, but more nervous than any of them.

"This…you are…" he said.

"Gaby," she said, stepping up as the self-assumed leader. Kieran and Seth looked grateful that she was the one who spoke first, and Lily simply stared, distrusting, at the man. She pointed to each of her companions in turn. "This is Kieran, Lily, Seth and-" She caught herself, so used to introducing Kip. He cleared her throat a bit and turned back to him, acting as if nothing happened. "What do you want with us?" Tyson looked slightly horrified at the way that she was addressing his leader, but the Hitmonchan morph just chuckled, then laughed. All eyes in the room were on them, some even standing up on their chairs or transformed into their Pokémon forms to get a better look. A young Pidgey morph even fluttered up to Lily to get a closer look, but with a look from her she darted away, resting on the shoulder of a Sudowoodo.

"Of course I know who you all are," he said. "You're a bit famous, especially you, even outside this compound" he said, pointing at Gaby. "Experiment 001, Mark 7239 Alpha, the first ever fusion of a human and non-Mew form legendary Pokémon. But you're all known for your efforts to destroy the lab of the man who created all of you-"

"Excuse me sir, I'm a natural born," Kieran said, somewhat timidly. The man laughed a bit, a rough laugh but genuine.

"Sorry then, lad, our information gatherers can be wrong sometimes," he said. This was greeted with a huff from the right side of the room, where he looked up and gave a threatening glare at them all. Everyone returned to work at this, and the man decided to relocate them all into a room directly behind them.

It was clearly his office, with a nice oak desk and decorated walls. Still stone, but carved out to give it a roomy appearance. They sat down in the four chairs in front of his desk, and Kati sat in the last remaining chair in the corner. Tyson stood next to her, watching intently.

"Anyway," he said, not taking his own seat but standing in front of them all. "We're glad we finally found you. We've been looking for a while, several teams, but recently you've been getting harder and harder to find. Probably a good thing, keeps you safe from your enemies, but also from your friends."

"Who said we're your friends?" Gaby said snappily. She half expected Kip to nudge her and tell her to shut up, as he always did when she said something inappropriate or rude, but almost choked again when she realized that he was probably halfway home to Lilycove right now.

"You're right, it's wrong of me to make assumptions. I just thought that, since we're both on the same side and want the same thing…" he began, but he was cut off again by the impatient Lugia morph.

"And what exactly _are_ you doing?" She asked, eyeing him with mistrust, though her tough demeanor couldn't hide her curiosity.

"Excellent question," he said. "We are the only thing fighting against the atrocities preformed in this world against Pokémon, morphs and humans. An underground organization composed of approximately five million members worldwide, we have several bases pocketed throughout the regions of the world. No, we are not the PETP ((People for the Ethical Treatment of Pokémon))," he said with a chuckle at Seth's look.

"Everywhere on the planet there are people trying to merge the races for their own devious purposes, to create armies to destroy the world, make superior races, even just crazed scientists and engineers wanting to get a little fame and glory, and cause a little destruction. Their motives are different, which reflects in the variety of results. In the case of Morphs at least, it's very easy to tell. Sakio morphs are known for containing a greater concentration of human DNA, resulting in a predominantly human-looking appearance with Pokémon tails, ears, etcetera and usually their powers. Korai morphs, such as myself, have much more Pokémon in them, and thus we have greater control of our abilities but also are far more visible. Orko morphs such as Tyson have random mutations and are unpredictable, many times with defects, and can be born with no powers at all. Gorian's Labs are attempting to get Pokémon with human souls and vice versa, while Yiorga's centers are trying to manipulate people to be carriers and pass on the gene through touch, resulting in the births of more natural born morphs. These, like Kati and Kieran, can be anywhere from full-body humanoid Pokémon to only having ears and a tail, as these two luckily did. And don't doubt that there are more labs…This obsession with merging species is far more widespread than the general public knows.

"Our purposes are varied, but the core mission statement is to free as many people, morphs and Pokémon as we can from the clutches of these genetically-modifying scientists and rehabilitate them. If they're salvageable for normal lives, we try and set them free. Even Pokémorphs are allowed to leave if they'd prefer to manage on their own. They always have the option of staying here with us, however, which is how we get most of our members. Sometimes they'll leave but just find normal life too hard after the trauma of living in a test tube or cell for most of their lives. They come back and join a group where you can just talk to people about your hardships and not be sent to an asylum.

"Our other directives are to find these labs, rescue everyone out of there and take the data. We store the data in our computer systems and in one single remaining hard copy, and destroy everything else. The media passes it off as freak explosions or it's just covered up completely, but it's almost always our doing.

"With the exception of the Sakio lab. You four…" and he paused. Something had clearly been bothering him the whole time. "I'm sorry, but are my intelligence teams just that wrong or is there supposed to be a fifth member?" This comment was met with an uneasy and uncomfortable silence for several painful seconds, until Seth finally spoke so Gaby wouldn't have to.

"He did, but he decided that this kind of a life was just too hard and went home," he mumbled, barely audible. Gaby's hand made a fist and shook for a second before she forced herself to relax it.

"Ah, never mind then," he said, realizing this was a very touchy issue, then continued. "You four have slowed down and even partially destroyed a lab, all on your own, where we usually have to send teams of people in with heavy casualties. You are exceptional, even fighting against other legendary morphs, which is why we took such an interest in you.

"Our request…no, _my_ request is that you all consider joining us," he paused, for effect. "Think about it, what are you all doing with your lives now? Wandering randomly as a group with your Pokémon, battling evil whenever it finds you or you happen upon it. Think of your skills, all the lives you could save with those skills. All of you have something you can bring here and make into something even more extraordinary. You can save lives. You can have a purpose, a meaning. You all can be real heroes.

"Join," he said, and it was almost a command. Lily looked affronted by the tone of his voice, but then he added, "Please,", and she calmed down a bit.

"We'll have to discuss this, in private," Gaby said. "It's not an easy decision, and not one I can just make on my own as a unanimous decision. Someplace large," she added, "where we can discuss this. Like, really hugely big," she said, spreading her arms wide to visibly show they needed a big space. While Gaby usually got along pretty well with acting her ages, it was times like these that you realized missing many key years in her young life to a test tube had had its impact. "Pokémon need a say, too."

"A room shall be arranged. Tyson, show them to one of the rec halls," He said. Tyson nodded. "Kati, if you'll just stay a moment?"

"Hey mister, you never gave us your name," Kieran piped up. The Hitmonchan man smiled at him, somewhat lopsided because of his scars, but still pleasant enough.

"Lieutenant Kane," he said. "But you call me 'Sir'."

Tyson lead them out of the room and they made their way past another door and into a long tunnel, with several doors branching off from them, as well as other hallways. The tunnels were very spacious, 15 feet high and just as wide. Their footsteps echoed as they walked, turning down corridors. It was very strategic, the way it was all laid out; any attacking force would get lost trying to get anywhere unless you'd lived here for long enough. Even Tyson paused and had to check his bearings once.

Eventually they reached a gigantic door. He opened it, like all the other doors, by pressing a button on the side. The doors slid open and revealed a huge gymnasium with a small pool, a track, and several other pieces of equipment. They looked around, and Gaby pulled out her Pokéballs and let them all go. Tyson staggered back and fell over in shock as he saw Silversong appear, stretch, and croon in surprise at their location. The rest followed suit, and soon the gym was full of the cries of various confused and hungry Pokémon.

"Alright guys, here's the scoop," Gaby said, "There's a guy who leads this bunch of freedom fighters, whose base we're in right now, who wants us to join him." Again, the almost child-like vocabulary of her speech made Seth smile. "Now, they do the same sort of stuff we do," she waved her arms around vaguely, "with the blowing up of labs and things, but they free the inhabitants and help them. I sure as hell would have liked to have been freed by them instead of trying to manage all on my own, so I'm for this joining. It would mean we lose the freedom of walking around, but hey," she grinned widely at this point, "at least we'll at least one meal a day!"

"Yeah, that'll do it for me!" Kieran said, "Food sounds awesome! Oh, and all that other stuff about saving people in labs and beating down scientists and not having to run away from people all the time." Lily shook her head.

"I don't know, I've always been in a rough situation and I can't imagine it getting much worse or better. I like my freedom, but if this is the right thing to do, then I guess I can try it. Besides, I can always leave if I decide the whole hero thing isn't for me, right?"

"Right. If we hate this, Mr. Hitmonchan-" Gaby started.

"Lieutenant Kane," Tyson corrected.

"Whatever. He can't stop us if we want to leave, right? If he tries…well we've bowled through labs before, so this place shouldn't be hard!" She said with a grin. The Pokémon made their calls in agreement, though Silversong and Seth rolled their eyes.

"…Well I don't really want to be going against all of you," Seth said, scratching Sparks the Manectric. "So I guess I'm in."

"Guys, what do you think?" Gaby asked, and the room erupted into cries. Some disagreed, but the majority were for it, and to be honest the prospect of food swayed the skeptics.

"_It sounds like it might be more steady and secure than what we have going right now,"_ Silversong said. _"Besides, with more people behind us, we may be able to make some real changes in the world. There's only so much we can do, but with a larger force and good leaders like Lieutenant Kane, I have a feeling much more is possible."_

"Well that's it then!" Gaby said, clapping her hands together with a triumphant smirk. "Let's do this!" She turned towards Tyson, as did the rest of him. She walked up to him and extended a hand, which he took.

"You're in?" He asked.

"Yeah. We're in."

- - -

005 was unaware of the reason why his father had called him into his study. He had been here many times, albeit not for very long, and was familiar with this cozy area, painted green and filled with dark oak furniture, as opposed to the very different atmosphere of the very white hallway on the other side of the door. In here, the industrial tiled floor that was everywhere in this lab was covered by a soft, dark green rug, many bookshelves and tables. There was a large desk, at which the owner of this lab was sitting, pouring over some new medical journal released in Hoenn on the bi-molecular structure of a…He stopped reading before it gave him a headache. Genetic research was left to his sister; he had little interest in it, unless it could make him stronger.

The door closed automatically behind him, as did all the doors in the facility, and Sakio looked up, surprised at the quick response to his summons. He set down the paper and stood up, and instead of his usually friendly inquiry as to how he was doing, any changes in his health, etcetera etcetera, it was a bit forced and rushed.

"Doing well?" Sakio half grunted, fiddling around with a button on his lab coat. 005 nodded, half curious, half concerned at his father's manner.

"I'm fine, Father. No structural damage, no new allergies, grown 1.5 centimeters since last physical examination," he reported in a controlled voice at a carefully modulated speed, so as not to show his concern. "You summoned me?"

"Indeed, I did," Sakio said. "There is something I need you to do, and I need you to do this right away." Such urgency was never in his orders. They were always given as, 'Be careful, and if the situation requires it, abandon the operation and we can attempt at a later date'.

"You are to go to Old Cinnabar Island," Sakio continued, "and investigate the abandoned facility there. We believe that it was not a natural phenomenon that wiped out the population, but something far more sinister, or at least accidental, but man made."

005 couldn't help but blink. Old Cinnabar had been flourishing next to its newly formed counterpart, New Cinnabar, created by a natural underwater volcanic eruption and further enlarged by man's efforts. Old Cinnabar housed about 50,000 people and at least twice the Pokémon at any given time, about 5,000 of them being tourists. Then, approximately seventy years ago, _something_ had wiped out the entire population in a matter of only a few days, leaving no survivors. Anyone who had left the island three days before the bizarre occurrence did not die, but all those who left within three days died around the same time, as well as anyone they were in contact with for at least ten hours regularly.

The cause was never found, and reporters were reluctant to go there, seeing as anyone who ventured on that island mysteriously died on location or a few days after visiting. The ones who survived long enough to report back could never find anything. Also strange, all radio communications on the island were unable to be sent or received. Thus, though many theories surrounded the place, the rest of the world continued to view it as some freak natural epidemic and blotted it from their minds.

Scientists in their community (that is to say, those who worked illegally in either weapon development, genetics or other such fields against the government's approval) speculated that something happened at the hidden branch housed on the island, but as with the reporters and investigators, all those sent to unlock the mystery vanished or died. Though the weapon development labs were the last go, hoping it was some kind of harvestable biotic weapon, the searches were stopped.

005 knew all this simply because of the mass amount of information downloaded into his head at 'birth' through the port in the back of his neck connected to his spinal chord. After having to teach 003 many things about the world, Sakio decided that from now on his experiment children should simply have knowledge downloaded into them instead of painstakingly taught. The Latios morph rather enjoyed this feature, as it allowed him to skip tedious lessons and get back to things he really enjoyed learning on his own, like fighting and mastering his abilities.

"Hasn't the idea of investigating that plant been abandoned because of health risks?" 005 asked. The idea of venturing onto an island so far away, alone, known for killing anyone to go near it, was not a thought he particularly enjoyed.

"Yes, but how many organizations are advanced enough to be able to create legendary Pokémorphs?" Sakio countered, with the first smile he'd given him all day. "No, we believe that your unique biochemical composition, combined with an constant stream of adaptive vaccines we've been developing specifically to counteract everything this island can throw at you-"

"Ah, that explains all the recent blood tests."

"Yes. Injecting yourself once our twice a day and transmitting an analysis of your DNA back to the labs here so we can make sure you're still healthy should keep you completely safe. If anything starts going wrong, you're to head back here immediately. The goal is to collect as many samples from the island and, if possible, unravel the cause behind the entire thing." Sakio exhaled slowly and looked at his protégé, trying to read his facial expressions and determine his attitude towards the whole thing.

If Sakio was worried about him refusing to take the task, he was completely mistaken. 005 had been confined to this lab for far too long in his mind, and was bursting to go out and experience the world more. Detective and investigative work was not as thrilling as capture, but this particular mission held the chance of a twist. The only thing he was wary of was the possibility of dying aspect, but then again, most missions were like that. Besides, Sakio made it very clear that they would be with him every step of the way, so it couldn't get much safer.

"Sounds fun," 005 said simply, and Sakio smiled at him again. His face was riddled with worry; it was obvious that he didn't like sending what he considered a son on such an uncertain and dangerous mission, but he was the only one for the job.

"Thanks," Sakio said, sounding much more relaxed now. "We'll be giving you quite a bit of equipment, but we've integrated Compactory technology to help ease the load. Also, you are to keep a video journal and make at least one entry a day, if possible, documenting every step of your journey. It will be transmitted back here immediately, so you might as well include your daily blood sample with it." He paused. "Feel free to keep a separate, private journal if you wish. I won't be intrusive if you want to curse me for sending you on this dangerous path."

"Oh Father, don't worry," 005 said, looking around the room. "Honestly, I just want to get out of this cramped place and see a bit more daylight, even it means a possibly horrible and painful death." He winked and raised his hands defensively to chase away his father's guilty expression. "When do I leave?"

"Well…Today, actually," Sakio said. "I've gotten wind from our branch in Kanto that the Magmari Institute-"

"Magmari?"

"When RAM formed, not everyone wanted to be a part of it. Magmari was the fraction of Magma who wanted to remain true to their ideals, then slowly shifted to weapon design. Rather nasty group of angry individuals."

"I see. Continue."

"Yes. The Magmari Institute is currently readying to send over their own team. I'm afraid that if they have managed to figure out how, they might try to use whatever they find here to destroy all their competition. Very counterproductive for us if we have to worry about saving our own lives. So you leave as soon as you can be ready."

"Two hours should be enough. How long am I going to be away?"

"The search should take…" Sakio paused and wracked his brain for the previously calculated time estimate, "…5 weeks or so, 7 days of combined traveling to and from, with the other 28 for scouting around." 005 grunted his acknowledgment.

"Is that all?" 005 asked. With this new adventure in front of him, he could hardly wait to get out the door. Sakio nodded, but didn't dismiss him. He came around to the other side of the table and stood in front of him. 005 was taller by an inch or so, but seemed smaller from the seniority of his creator.

"Look…Be careful, Son," he said. 005 nodded. "I hate to risk losing you. And I'm not talking about the loss of what you stand for in the genetic research community…I mean _you_."

"Stop being a sap. I'll be fine," 005 said, and Sakio sighed, nodding.

"Then…You're in?" He asked, on a final note.

"Yeah. I'm in."

-----

Hooray! Well, now I usher in more apologies. Honest to goodness, I am extremely sorry I took so long, and I'm even sorrier if this chapter comes out as total crap. I'm sort of floating around right now, picking at ideas, and we'll see what happens.

I want to thank everyone who has hung on and actually read this for being faithful people who I can brag about and say, "I'm nothing without fans who deal with my idiocy and lateness…" Know I write mostly for you!

That said, always up for cool suggestions for things to throw in. Also, if you want me to write a little piece based off these guys or have an idea or something else entirely, feel free. I'd love to hear anything at all you awesome people have to say.

And to those who sent me emails bugging me, extra thanks to you for getting my butt in motion.

Please review and keep reading,

Ryu T.


	43. Ch43:A New Home, and Homeward Bound

It was a strange thing, not waking up to sunlight every morning. Every time she blearily opened her eyes, her muddled brain questioned why the light had a greenish tint, and why the air crackled with electricity.

Then she remembered that she was underground, and the green light was the electrically charged crystals embedded in the rock above her head that served as lights, and the tiny pops the air made were due to the Elekid morph and his Electabuzz father that passed over everyone's room in the morning, charging the rocks and waking them all up.

She sat up, yawning widely and stretching, her thin 'pajama' shirt (a tank top with two many holes around the neck and base to be worn with decency in public) refusing to stretch with her and ripping a little more at the arm. She slumped back, going limp, frowning at the tearing sound, and started with a displeased expression at her further destroyed shirt.

The noise awoke the Meganium curled up at the foot of her bed, and happily the six-foot sauropod-like Pokémon bounded on top her, forgetting that she weighed over two hundred pounds while her master barely topped 120.

Gaby choked and unceremoniously shoved the loving grass type onto the floor, rubbing her now-sore ribs and giving Affection a dirty look. Her antenna wilted and she shuffled her little 3-toed feet, making a soft, apologetic cooing noise. Gaby tickled under her chin with her tail, which brightened the Meganium's mood, and stood up to change out of her tattered shirt and shorts into the issued uniform: a pair of fitting dark brown pants with lighter stripes on the sides, of a material that was easy to move in, her old plain white t-shirt (now more akin to white than brown-gray, as she had washed it in recent memory), and a short sleeve, buttoned jacket, of the same color as the pants but made in a looser material. As always, her rag of a bandanna remained fixed to her head, though since she had decided to bathe in a natural hot spring located on the complex with it on, it was also a little less disgusting.

Affection trotted after her heels, enjoying her freedom and galloping happily after her when she fell behind Gaby's brisk walk. The people here were firm believers that Pokéballs should only be used in transportation or dire emergencies, and never when alternatives could be arranged. Though her team had never had any problems with staying in their energy forms, she had released them all to wander freely around the complex as they like, with two exceptions. While the caverns were spacious enough to easily hold the average Pokémon (about 4' tall), and made wider to comfortably house their human and Pokémorph members (who usually ran between 5' and 8' tall), and even made slightly larger to give space enough for several people to move comfortably in the hallways, the 15' by 15' tunnels were still very uncomfortable for her 17' Lugia to move around in, not to mention he took up the whole hallway. So, he generally contented himself with staying in his ball, or else visiting one of the several large pools he loved to soak in. And besides, being this far down in the ground, the air was uncomfortably warm for Silversong, who preferred the deep-sea temperatures that hovered just a few degrees above freezing. Needless to say, as Gaby was part Lugia herself, she was just as displeased about the constant sticky warmness that followed her everywhere she went.

The other exception was, of course, the over-eager Meganium that haunted her footsteps wherever she went, and for unknown reasons seemed completely unbothered by the heat.

She bumped into a sleepy-looking man tousling his red and black hair with his hands, stumbling one step at a time to the breakfast hall. He was dressed in the same uniform (as virtually everyone was, unless, like Tyson, your physical features made it impossible for you to wear normal clothes), though it was much less wrinkled and cleaner than her own.

He coughed, and suddenly a Mew was floating ahead of her, clothes hanging off it like a young child in their parent's oversized clothes, the belt just barely keeping the pants on him, the sleeves hanging far past his little paws. Despite the sudden transformation, Seth didn't seem to notice, and simply blinked tiredly a few times and continued floating forward to the promise of toast, porridge, and MooMoo Milk.

She grinned and caught him around the middle, making him flail and lift her off the ground with unconscious psychic ability. He squeaked a few 'Mew! Meeewww!'s out before he realized it was just Gaby, eyed her sourly, and sunk back closer to the floor. With a brief flash of light, he reverted back to his human form, clothes intact, and simply glared at her. His therapy here with other lab-made Morphs over the past few months had helped him get a better handle on his uncontrollable switching; while he still popped unwillingly into Pokémon form, and occasionally sprouted a tail mid-sentence, he could now revert back into a fully human form. He'd stopped caring about having the tail and big fluffy Mew ears, though, and generally just left them, and he still couldn't will himself into a Mew.

"I hate it when you sneak up on me," he grumbled at her. His face looked very tired, and she suspected he'd been up late again, just as she often was.

"It wasn't really 'sneaking', it was more you being completely oblivious to all your surroundings," she said in retort. "That'll get you killed in the field."

"Oh, no one informed me the hallway between my room and my food was a place where I have to be on my guard from the forces of evil," he said, dripping with irritated sarcasm. Gaby just beamed annoyingly at him. He gave a little grunting growl and slapped her in the side with a furry pink tail.

The entered the massive cafeteria area, where there were hundreds of scattered, mismatched tables, chairs, stools, and benches, on which sat a variety of peculiar creatures. There was a Houndoom girl, with flowing black hair and white horns, tanned skin and an embedded necklace of bone encircling her collar, with what looked like a skull as a pendant from a distance. She was chatting amiably with a sandy-haired human, sitting next to his Kangaskhan-morph wife, playing with the little mostly-human baby in her pouch, though his skin was bluish and his hair was green. A flock of Bird morphs that always seemed to be together were playing cards at one table; the sleek and sharp-eyed Fearow morph looked like he was cleaning his fellows out, judging from their glares in his direction. A small girl with violet-blue skin and a winding tail instead of legs was curled up next to a Bagon, both asleep in front of their half-finished meals.

There were over a hundred beings in the eating area, going about their daily lives, ready to depart to their jobs as engineers or scientists, combat trainers or nutritionists, teachers or scouts. The massive subterranean establishment was _not_, as Gaby and her gang had initially believed, simply a military base used to strike out at evil labs worldwide, but a refuge, a safe haven and society that outcasts could go to live as normal of a life as they could, raise families and live in relative security under tones and tones of rock.

She wondered why the hell it had taken her so long to find this damn place.

"Oh, they beat us here," Seth said, and started off towards a table near the right wall. He'd spotted Lily, Kati and Tyson sitting at a round folding card table, Lily (the tallest), sitting shortest on a stool, and Kati (the shortest), sitting tallest on a long-legged chair. Tyson had secured a folding metal chair and ate his porridge and toast in ease, while the other two had minor difficulties.

"Gaby, Seth, nice of you to join us," Lily said, looking up at them. "We couldn't find chairs for you, so I'm afraid you'll have to stand."

In synch, both Psychics simply fell back and floated upward, Gaby with her legs crossed, Seth with one leg over his other knee. Lily shot daggers at them, ruffled her blue-and-orange wings in a disgruntled way, and bit into her bread savagely. Tyson and Kati both laughed, and the former caught Gaby's eye. He gave her a smile, a bright, glowing smile, and he could see the color of her eyes flicker, but only for an instant before she looked away, the tiniest pink illuminating her tanned cheeks.

"Is Kieran back yet?" Kati asked, looking around to see if he had followed them. She seemed to be constantly asking about him, where he was, where she could find him, what his shifts were, et cetera, et cetera. Gaby shrugged, leaned forward, and yanked Tyson's piece of toast right of his mouth and jamming it in hers. He stared incredulously at her for a few seconds, got up, and dragged her off towards the lineup for food, to prevent her from stealing any more of his own breakfast.

They'd come quite late, so while that meant they would only be in the line for the few minutes, the food was likely to be old and second-choice. After living on berries, roots, and stolen Hiker foods, she was not going to complain about hot oats with sugar, wholesome bread and cool Miltank juice.

"There's been no word on him, has there?" she asked, allowing herself to express the concern and worry in her voice. Around Kati, she didn't dare let her uncertainty show, but Tyson was different.

"None. Sorry. I check with Marty every morning to see if there's been a signal, or if he showed up, but still nothing. It's not good," he said tersely. She liked that he was honest with her, not coddling, but for a moment she wished he had been. Kieran had been gone over a week with two other Scouts, investigating rumors of an explosion in the eastern part of the Hoenn continent. Nine days, and still they'd received no transmission, and they hadn't returned by the deadline. Kieran had been sent because of his familiarity with that area, though Lily would have gone instead if she hadn't been promoted to Lt. of Aerial Security three days before. She _loved_ that position: it allowed her to stretch her wings and practicing kicking ass, her two favorite things. There'd been no serious threats yet, but if there were, Lily would be ready.

Seth had probably come in the handiest of any of them, even over Gaby: his knowledge of genetics and lab equipment earned him a place among the doctors and scientists. It was true that he had left his father's lab when he was only a young teenager, but he was a brilliantly fast learning and already had all the fundamental knowledge he needed to succeed. It had taken the people and Pokémon here a while for them to trust Sakio's son (a detail which had initially nearly gotten him thrown out), but over the months he had proven his worth and earned their confidence.

Gaby herself, however, had been sent on no missions, appointed no security heads, and hadn't been near the lab, except for a checkup when she first arrived. For the first month, she had simply been gawked at, questioned, and pressed for details of her life. She had grudgingly obliged for weeks on end, answer this, smiling at that, trying to put on a modest face, but the attention was giving her so much of a headache she asked Kane, the leader she had met on her first day here, to get them all to stuff it. Suddenly, the inquiries slowed, and she was returned to a more peaceful day-to-day existence.

Then the boredom set in. The next few months she did nothing but train with her Pokémon, swim, and enjoy not starving, but the appeal of leisure time wore off as fast as the pool water dried on her bare skin in the subterranean heat. The worst part were the stories that she would hear from her friends: Kati and Tyson talking about this morph or that sympathizer that they had brought in, Kieran exaggerating his tales to resemble epics, putting danger at every turn when really the biggest threat had been a slightly grumpy Jumpluff. Seth's conversations were harder to follow, but he at least sounded happy doing his strange nerdy science work. Lily sounded full of spirit, with none of the distrust she had had during the first little while, and told stories of sparring fights she'd had and whose butt she'd wiped the floor with that day.

All of this, while Gaby was just sitting with her pals, bored out of her mind. Her attempts to reach Kane again had all failed, mostly because he was spending increasing amounts of time away from the mountain, and she only ever found out about his return after he had left again.

So, she had busied herself with education. Since she had been taken into the test tube at the ripe age of seven, she had the same worldly education as a young child. Though physically breeching adulthood, her mental age was years behind, and she secretly felt inferior when Kati rattled on about some commonly understood principal that even street-educated Lily understood while Gaby just started blankly, nodding her head and pretending to have a clue about what was happening. Kieran was her only consolation, since he had been raised feral and could only speak because he'd lived near a garbage dump for a few years; he tended to leave the table any time Seth started to talk about his work, preventing the headache he was sure to get if he stayed.

In the two months since she'd begun self-teaching, she'd learned quite a lot. Some things came easier than others: geography, for instance, was a breeze, since she'd seen a lot of the places herself. Basic math wasn't too difficult, and she understood things like the water cycle and how the planet moved, but life sciences went beyond her. She also tended to excuse herself during Seth's ramblings, as Kieran did.

Kieran. Where _was_ he? She picked up her tray, now laden with breakfast foods, and started to make her way back across the room. Tyson, seeing her morose expression, gave her elbow a little squeeze, and offered a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he just got lost chasing some pretty Vulpix vixen and forgot to check in," he said, jokingly. Gaby _had_ to smile at that image.

"Yeah, but don't let Kati hear you say that, she'll go apeshit on you for even _implying_ having other thoughts."

"Riiight," he said, eyeing the petite Pikachu nibbling at the crust of her toast.

She sat down, eating her slightly cold porridge and drinking her slightly warm milk, chatting casually with her friends. But her mind was elsewhere. It wasn't just Kieran she was worried about. She could see it in Seth's eyes too, the slightly vacant expression that both of them had when their thoughts wandered into more painful memories. Lily and Kieran would refuse to speak about the matter, for in their hearts he had abandoned them to live in the normalcy that they could never have. Seth, having lived as a human, was sympathetic towards his wishes, and Gaby…she was angry at him, yes, angrier than she'd imagined she could be, but…

Kip…

_One week earlier_

Sunlight streamed through the trees as he stumbled through the undergrowth that surrounded the seaside town. The air was sweet with summer flowers and salt, and even this far from the beach there were glimmers of sand shining up from the ground. He'd lost the road a long ways back and was pushing forward purely on instinct, but the sounds of the sea were growing closer every day, so he had to be getting _somewhere_.

Getting here had been hell. He'd lost his map early on, and had no idea where he was going. For weeks he'd wandered aimlessly through forests and fields, looking for any sign of human settlement, or just a passing trainer to ask directions from. It'd been somewhere around 6 weeks when he finally found Mauville, with no idea of how he'd gotten there when he thought he was closer to Petalburg, but finding himself in a city closer to home hadn't been a negative realization. He was half starved and exhausted, as were his Pokémon, so he rested in the Centre for another week before pressing on. He tried to buy a bike, but since he'd started travelling with Gaby, he hadn't had much need for money.

Gaby…He'd had to continually force himself to forget about his friends. It was daily pain for him to wake up with only his Pokémon around him, a hunger in his stomach that berries couldn't begin to satisfy, and a sense of hopelessness. The guilt was crushing, too: Gaby's expression when he'd voiced his doubts and fears swam before his mind's eye every time he closed his eyes.

He was miserable, but he had to believe he'd made the right choice. He was virtually useless in fights, with only a wimpy telekinetic ability that wouldn't even have made the elderly ex-gym leader Sabrina bat an eyelash in his direction. And when it _did_ flare up, he couldn't even control it. Other than that, he was just a human, playing pretend with a bunch of _real_ heroes. He couldn't hold his own in a fight without his Pokémon, he wasn't brave, he wasn't resourceful, and he wasn't destined for any greatness. He was just Kip Veeson, a stupid boy who thought Gaby was magical and thought she needed him to help her save the world.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Besides, he was exaggerating: the world didn't even need saving, just certain groups of genetic mutants in it.

So he'd left the town after another week, broke, bikeless, and with no provisions to carry him all the way to Lilycove. The Mt. Pyre was the shorter way, but since he didn't have the fare to pay the crossing, and doubted his telepathic abilities were strong enough to break into the captain's mind and convince him to let him go for free, he had to take the Route 118-119-Fortree-120-121 way to get home. Maybe once he got there, he'd rest for a while, have some good hot meals, and train to go tackle Ever Grande City…maybe his old friends would hear about him becoming champion and hate him less.

Fat chance.

Nevertheless, he set out, walking in sneakers so abused that he might as well have just been walking in his socks. He met some over-eager young trainers, naïve with their little friends, with big dreams. He even met some older than him, but they still acted like children in his eyes, goading him into battling, insulting him when he passed them by. They knew _nothing_ about the real world, he realized: they thought life was just running around collecting badges, settling into a job, maybe having a family and watching their own kids run off to become wannabe Pokémon masters.

He shut down those thoughts quickly, since that was exactly the kind of future that _he _wanted now, instead of the meaningful one where he risked his life to battle corruption instead of trainers, and where losing was deadly instead of slightly unprofitable.

The heavy rains that had set in did not help his mood, or his traveling. The dirt roads became washed-out and muddy, and twice he'd had to retreat into the safety of the surrounding woods to avoid the stinging drops. The second time had been a mistake, since he'd wandered, lost, for several days and nights before happening upon Fortree City. He again took refuge in the Centre there, hiding out until the rains passed after another week, and waiting a few more days for the roads to dry up. Much to his dismay, it only began raining again, so with solemn determination he set out again, trekking through the sludge and sleeping in the mud, shivering, not wanting to force his Pokémon out into this mess.

He caught a chill from living like that, and was forced to stop and let his Pokémon take care of him. They took turns watching him and scouting for food, building a primitive and leaky shelter of fronds and sticks above his head, but he was grateful all the same. With their care, he recovered quickly, and set on again.

Unfortunately, he had lost his bearing, and the road, and his Raichu had unwittingly thought to use his newly-purchased map as roof material, so here he was, close to home, smelling the fresh air and salt, the end of his journey drawing near.

Funny, though; he thought he was getting very close, judging by the sounds of the ocean, but there were none of the familiar sounds of Lilycove wafting through the branches towards him; no bustle of people, no Wingulls screeching overhead, no children playing hide-and-seek in the trees. And it was daytime, so there _should_ be sounds of life audible even at this distance.

Unless…

Panic gripped him, and he rushed forward, disregarding caution and tripping his way through the roots and brambles. The forest suddenly seemed hostile and constraining, hindering his movement, as if it were trying to keep him there. A new color seemed to seep through the trees ahead of him, a grey-orange haze. A scent reached his nostrils that would have struck him stock-still, if he hadn't been mid-trip. He pushed onward, hoping against hope that he was still delirious, that he was just sick and imagining this, or that he was trapped in another nightmare.

As if sensing his distress, Quickzap burst from his ball and bounded next to him, quickly out pacing his human master. The trees were getting more spread out, and more light was filtering in. He couldn't smell the salt anymore, or the flowers; all he could smell was smoke and death.

He broke through the trees to a sight that the darkness inside himself had already shown to him in Gaby's nightmare.

Lilycove had been ablaze, though now only small fires still burned, like the last embers in a fireplace. The city was black with ash, the buildings ruined, and there were soft noises of pain emanating from all directions, surrounding him. The sky was a clear day, but there were no cheerful bird cries in the sky on this desolate scene. Quickzap was already there, staring, ears flattened against his head, silent.

His legs started carrying him without his permission. The Raichu followed behind him. He couldn't believe it, not till he saw it with his own eyes. His slow steps quickened as adrenaline pumped through his system again, his legs aching but his mind seeming not to register it as he ran to the other end of the city, up the stairs to the higher level of the town. Bodies were lying on the white steps, though they were mercifully faced-down. He bypassed them and continued onto his own home.

It was in ruins. The house he had lived in for most of his life had been reduced to the beams and supports. The roof had crumbled in, crushing everything beneath it, and the house that had been built to withstand typhoons had been destroyed by flame.

Despite the obvious danger, he rushed inside, his Pokémon crying in alarm. Kip ignored him and rushed in.

He found his mother in the living room, her arms curled protectively around Smiles, her baby Wynaut. A smear of blood was on her cheek, but otherwise she looked unhurt, as did her Pokémon. Her capsules were splayed all over the room around her; one with a blue 'W' sticker was cracked (Smile's ball), and another was black and scorched; he couldn't tell which it was. He looked at his mother again. It as probably smoke inhalation that got her and her baby, and she looked as though she was just taking a nap. He couldn't bring himself to touch her, though, so he fled the room, tears stinging his eyes.

The upstairs was crumbled completely, so he checked the kitchen, dining room, and bathroom (all of which were unoccupied and destroyed) before heading to the basement.

The giant tank that his father had filled with water to house his beloved Gyarados was smashed, the water long dried from the intense heat of the flames. A horrible wailing sound was coming from a corner, and Quickzap rushed to find little Blue the Minun standing over his sister Red the Plusle, who was unmoving. The Gyarados was also motionless inside its broken tank.

Kip found his father crushed under a slab of roof that had fell three floors to rest on top of him. By some act of mercy, it had hit him in the neck and upper back, killing him instantly but sparing the Pokéballs fastened on his belt. The thought of approaching his father's corpse made bile rise in his throat, but he couldn't leave the rest of his father's team there. He sunk to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably by now, and delicately unfastened the bloody capsules from the corpse.

As he finished, he heard Quickzap shout his own name in a new tone: excitement. Kip turned to see the little Plusle twitch slightly, and bolted over, cradling the little thing in his arms. She turned her tiny head weakly towards him.

Suddenly, Red was the only thing that mattered in his world. He shoved his dead parent's Pokéballs into his pack and ran up the stairs, leaving the others to follow him, and ran out the door. He flew to the centre, which was also decimated and full of bodies of people and Pokémon alike, but perhaps he could get one of the machines working.

He was in luck. While the room was burnt and the ceiling collapsed as his house was, four machines in the healing centre had survived fire and falling roof. They were occupied with balls that their trainers (some of which lay on the floor around him) had put there in a desperate attempt to save them, so he gingerly moved some of them and set them on a counter. He grabbed a spare from a shelf and recaptured the Plusle (possible now, due to her owner's…he couldn't think about that), and placed it on the machine, punched a few buttons and prayed for a miracle.

A backup power generator kicked online, and the machine whirred to life, glowed for a few moments, and ceased. He grabbed the ball and released, aiming the beam at the flood next to the worried-looking Minun, and a rejuvenated Red materialized, blinking, disoriented, but alive.

Something grabbed his leg then, and he jolted. He looked down to see a boy with a mop of blood-matted shaggy black hair wearing all brown, though it was cut in some places. His hand was around his leg, and Kip knelt, heart beating quickly at the thought of a survivor, though the tears still flowed from his eyes.

He gasped when the boy looked up at him, and he saw a pair of furry black ears spring up from mass of hair. The tip of one was hairless and scorched, as was the end of the furry black tail sprouting from his lower back. Kieran looked just as shocked to see him, though much weaker.

"…How…" Kip started, then pulled the younger boy into a sitting position; he had always been small for his age, and he felt feather-light and limp in his hands.

"Kip…what are you…" Kieran started. He coughed. His face was stained black with soot. Kip looked around, and saw two other people wearing the same uniform, one human and one that looked like a Ferret morph. The human had a nasty crack in his head that had stopped seeping blood some time ago, and the Ferret girl was motionless, but too far away to judge if she was dead or just unconscious.

"I just got here…I…Why are you here? I thought you were-"

"Mission…sent to…investigate an explosion here…" he paused, coughing some more, though he seemed to be becoming more animated with each breath. He suddenly whirred around and looked at the machine Kip had just used. "My Pokémon….!"  
"They're safe, don't worry," Kip assured him, nodding to the counter. Kieran relaxed again, then shuffled away from Kip over to the morph girl. He checked her pulse and lifted her up onto his lap, his large Mightyena ear at her mouth, listening for some sign of breath. His eyes widened.

"She's alive," He said. "Come on, help me with her."

Kip grabbed his bag, rolling Kieran's Pokéballs into it as well, and helped him move the girl outside. She had a gash in her arm and burns on her cheek, but other than that she was generally unhurt. They laid her on the ash-covered sidewalk and went back in together to check for more survivors. There were two; the night shift nurse who had run into the burning Centre to try and save the inhabitants, but who had been knocked unconscious by a falling support beam, and a young teenage girl, clutching her whimpering Raticate tightly to her chest. She seemed more or less unhurt, but had fainted from smoke inhalation. Her other Pokémon had, it seemed, been less lucky, their balls crushed inside the healing machine she had placed them in for safety.

"I still can't believe you're here," Kieran said in wonder, ogling Kip. "When we got here, most of the place was in ruins, but they hit it with a second set of firebombs and set the whole place ablaze once they knew we were inside. They-"

"Who are _they_?" Kip snapped. He could feel the anger bubbling inside him, cursing the picturesque blue sky and the wisps of clouds above it, damning the serene, sparkling blue see and the golden sand that kissed it. All he could hear was the blood pounding inside his head as the reality that his home had been destroyed, his parents and everyone he grew up with and knew here slaughtered.

"I don't know, they got us while we were checking out the Centre for survivors. I assume that they're some sort of group trying to send a message to known Morph sympathizers. Lily said your parents harbored her and Gaby when-" he paused, seeing the pain that had struck Kip's face at the mention of his family. "…They…they didn't make it, did they?"  
"No," he croaked. He could feel his eyes watering again, and bent his head, less inclined to share his grief with the boy he had abandoned months ago. To his surprise, he felt a hand on his back, patting him comfortingly. He looked up, his vision blurred, to see that it was Kieran. He sank to his knees and held his head, sobbing, and Kieran sank with him, gripping his shaking shoulders, muttering indistinct calming words at him.

When at last Kip was drained of tears, he was too weak to move. Every breath hurt; his mouth dry was from gasping for air between heaving sobs, his was nose runny, his were eyes a blotchy mess. He was content to sit there for eternity on the pavement, and planned to.

"Y'know…" Kieran said, a little hesitantly. He gathered himself, then spoke again. "You could…come back with me. We could find out who did this. The Org has lots of intelligence workers, and if this was an attack on us specifically, they're bound to find out who did it."

Kip looked up at him. The prospect of vengeance was enough to stir him. It gave him strength to rise up off the ash-strewn concrete. He had nowhere else to go now. All his childish dreams of normalcy he'd had on the journey here seemed as stupid and ignorant as the trainers he'd met along the way. He was wrong to think that he could be a normal person again, after all he'd be through, but most of all he was wrong to abandon his friends, just so that he wouldn't have to deal with danger and difficulty.

He turned and nodded sharply at Kieran. His tail waggled automatically in response, and he gave him a quick clap on the back.

"Good to have you back, then," he said shortly. Kip nodded again.

"Right. But let's look for survivors first," the faintest smile traced his dry lips. "If something as midget-small as you could survive, I'm sure there must be other people who've hung on t-"

"I'M NOT THAT SHORT!" Kieran screeched in reply and ran off to the nearest house, and Kip felt more normal than he had since he left them.

----

Feel free to hate for the horribly lengthy delay between postings. I'd like to thank anyone who has stuck with me thus far for being among the most faithful human beings alive, and I'd also like to thank the many new readers who have discovered the world and characters of RG.

I hope this wasn't all too dark for you! I debating having it be _Kieran's_ team that got crushed in the Pokémon center healing thing, but I settled with just having killed Kip's poor parents.

As always, feel free to contact me on MSN or email by dragon1 rogers . com (no spaces), or hotmail . com.

Preferably, the next chapter will not take several years to be written…but no promises!

Again, I thank you all with the entirety of my heart, and hope you will continue to read this story!

With appreciation,

R. T.


	44. Ch44:Ruins

The rain didn't bother him. Nor did the wind, or the rushing landscape below him, or even the thunder that crashed around him. No, in he was content in his psychic bubble, gliding through the air like a born Flying-type, but feeling none of the elements.

He looked at the ground ahead of him and finally saw the promise of rocky gray waves crashing angrily against the rocks. A smile spread across his face when he saw it, and he pushed forward.

He fumbled inside his backpack and pulled out a small bottle of yellowish liquid, and syringe. He barely felt the needle prick his skin; he'd been feeling them all his life, so it was nothing new. He flexed his hands after putting the items back in his bag.

He spun elegantly in a loop, dancing with the wind. He let his barrier fall to feel the elements on his skin. Drenched in seconds. Freezing. But so, so alive.

He spun again, dropping and twisting. He glowed faintly; two Dragon Dances should have done it.

The corners of his mouth pulled back in a wide grin as he put his force field back up around him, and broke the sonic barrier.

He would be on Cinnabar Island within the hour.

It had taken a long time to put out the first that had eaten the once beautiful Lilycove, but it had taken even longer to put those who had been killed to rest.

What would take the longest, though, was for the living to be at peace.

The death count was not as bad as they had thought: many had escaped into the waters and nearby cove at the first bombing. Several houses were ruined, and the damage was catastrophic. The top two floors of the department store had burned and collapsed, and the Center was in bad shape.

While the healthiest were busy clearing the roads and gathering their dead, the rest were spent treating the injured. Morph or human, there was no distinction: everyone had a job to do, and everyone did it.

Kip had been very useful as a nurse; after having taken care of Gaby's injured Pokémon for so long, he'd gotten quite skilled at playing doctor. His own Pokémon helped as well, using their strength or other abilities to help clear rubble or carry wounded.

Kieran, along with the Furret morph (whose name turned out to be Elaine), were mostly serving as runners. Brilliantly fast in either Pokémon or human forms, they went around the city, relaying information quickly while the power was still down. A burly Electabuzz morph who had accompanied them worked on fixing that problem, and a human sympathizer from the Org and her Skarmory flew overhead, leading other volunteers and their Pokémon as they looked for things they'd missed. Every time Kip saw the flash of silver wings overhead, he missed Gaby even more.

She'd been on his mind for weeks, her pained and betrayed face swimming before his eyes at every blink. He thought he'd never have to face her again, or get the chance to make things right, to tell her that…

And now he was going to have that chance. Would he be able to follow through?

He realized he dwelled on Gaby more because it was too hard to come to terms with the reality in Lilycove. When they'd laid his parents and their Pokémon to rest, he'd collapsed halfway through giving his memento. Kieran, surprisingly, had stepped up to finish. Kip still heard the words in his ears whenever he saw Kieran running determinedly across the ground…

"_I never got to meet 'em," Kieran said. He looked around at all the sad faces, and at his friend collapsed on the ground next to him, overcome. "But I do know a few things, so I'm gonna speak._

"_They raised a damn good kid. Kip is probably the most honest guy I know, and he always does his best, and can come through anything. I know his parents taught him that. I wasn't raised by a mom or dad. I wish I'd had Kip's, cause the Veesons were probably the best parents around. We're all gonna remember them, right?"_

_There was mumbled agreement from the crowd. That wasn't good enough._

"_I said, we're gonna remember them, right? And everybody here! Because…Because what good is family if we don't learn from them, and love them? This city was a family! I see it, because I've always been outside, looking in, and it's really all of you connected that makes this place what it is. You've lost people, good people, but these people didn't raise you to give up. Or break down, or say it's all over. They taught you to fight!"_

_The crowd was more alert now, looking at the short boy with the matted black hair and the eyes that seemed to see through them. The honest eyes of a Pokémon, but with the human words behind them._

"_Get up, Kip!"_

_He'd blinked. He looked up, tear-stained and shaking, as if he asked him to do the impossible._

"_Are your legs broken? Get up! You weren't brought up to hide in your knees. Get up!"_

_Kip rose, slowly, shakily, until he stood at full height, facing the faces of Lilycove. Everyone looked at him._

"_C'mon Jacob…" he said, nodding to the manager of the Pokémart. He started at the sudden mention, and looked around. Kip's head turned to another. "Sarah." Another. "Christine. Judith. Andrew. Martha. Caroline. Mr. and Mrs. Pecher. Bonny. Mr. Dayle." His voice rose with every name, with every head that looked at him, looked to each other. Looked up with hope._

"_This…This is your city. Our city. We're not going to let it rot." He started crying again, but had a half smile this time. "Lets make our families proud, alright?"_

"Kip? Seriously. You need your head looked at."

Kip jumped in surprise. The Illumise in his lap that he'd been tending was staring up at him curiously, as Kieran loomed over them both.

"Sorry. I was remembering your speech at the funeral."

"I sounded pretty awesome, didn't I?" He said, leaning back with a grin. "I should do this inspirational speech thing for a living!"

"You're such a little prick, you know that? You-" The Illumise cooed at him to continue spraying her with the potion in his hand, so he obliged and let Kieran grin at him.

"Well, anyway, we're moving out. That's what I came to tell you."

"What?"

"Yeah! Back to HQ. We're WAY overtime, they expected us back three days ago."

"But there's so much left unfinished. The department store-"

"Al got the power working. Lilycove's live. The people here are fine, they'll be able to rebuild. Besides, Fortree's sending teams over, they'll be getting here within hours, so we gotta disappear." He held his hands up and exploded his fingers with a 'poof' sound, then started walking off.

"Seriously? But-"

"C'mon, Kip. You know they'll be fine," he said, an ear twitching to catch Kip's protest. He didn't even turn around. Elaine the Furret and the other uniformed helpers were all gathered at the edge of town, waiting for them.

Kip passed off the Illumise to another volunteer, then grabbed his bag. He'd stocked it days before, to be prepared to leave whenever the demand was made. He was ready, yes but…Now that he was faced with it, he didn't want to-

_You have to set things right wit__h her. You have to tell her._

"Wait up!"

Cinnabar Island was not a pretty place. Once beautiful and holding a quiet little town, then destroyed by a volcanic eruption, abandoned for years until Giovanni's scientists and their families moved back and cloned the legendary Mewtwo. Destroyed again by that Pokémon's rage, rebuilt yet _again_ by the scientists of the displaced Team Rocket who were determined to duplicate their success and brilliance, and, finally, years ago, after becoming a bubbly city and tourist hub, being abandoned for mysterious 'toxic conditions' and forgotten under headlines that said 'Unusual Circumstances' by all the newspaper clippings and geography textbooks.

As he walked the island, he let his fingers trail the buildings reclaimed by nature, the vines settled in the cracks in the stone, the trees impaling the concrete and determined to live. He'd spent almost half an hour just staring through an open door of a house at a tree that had grown, reaching for the kitchen window, reaching for life.

_This place really is a testament to humans and their need to beat nature…_ he thought. _So many disasters, so many disappointments, and yet, they rebuild. Again and again._

But not this time. No, this time, the threat was too mysterious, nothing natural or pure damaging. He could feel the effects on his body; they made him feel heavy, but also seemed to keen his powers. He'd taken to being barricaded by psychic energy at all times, but sometimes he couldn't resist letting a little fresh air in. If only Father didn't keep him so cooped up all the time, perhaps he wouldn't feel the need to expose himself to toxic chemicals here.

It took him a day to find the lab, and another half to clear the debris from the door to be able to get in. When he'd finally entered the chambers, 005 was faced with something that made even his stomach sick.

_Pokémorphs._

There were literally dozens, strewn across the floor, in various states of transformation, preserved by the undisturbed air of the room. Most were at the extremely dangerous half-formed phase; a woman was grotesquely shrunken, her hands and legs made into tiny pink appendages, a Clefairy tail curled around her body. A man's skin had turned hard as stone, green-grey all over, except for his head, which had gone brownish; clearly a Golem gone very wrong. Another woman, this one with blue vines sprouting haphazardly from all over her body, her face hidden by black hair. A huge, hulking mess of a creature, of Pokémon origin that 005 didn't recognize, a human blown way out of proportion, his hands green and the rest of him white, huge, drooping folds of snow-white skin flaying from his face, more on his chest, bursting through his labcoat, the green tail at the back tearing through-

_His Labcoat?_

He did a double take: yes. These were _all_ scientists, except the few in the tube. How? Why? He backed away quickly, shocked. So many morphs, but scientists?

What the hell had happened here?

"You know, we haven't battled in a really long time."

The challenge took Kip completely by surprise. They'd been walking for the entire day, and had finally stopped to rest in an open, grassy field. They'd levelled the tall grass and pitched tents (only now did Kip wonder why they'd never used them _before_), and had just finished eating when Kieran looked up at him with a glint in his eye.

"You can't be serious."

"C'MON OUT, POWERHOUSE!"

"You're serious."

"CRUNCH!"

Kip swore loudly as he rolled back from the eager Tyranitar as she tried to decapitate him "playfully" with her teeth. He grabbed the balls from his bag and threw one at random: Quickzap appeared, looking horribly confused at being faced with the green Armor Pokémon.

"Quickzap, take her down! Thunderbolt!"

"Rai!" he called, and, spinning around and lashing his bolt-shaped tail towards Powerhouse, let off a bolt of powerful electricity towards the opponent. The other morphs poked their heads out of their tents to watch.

"Get 'im, Kieran!" Al the Electabuzz cheered, his voice gruff but excited.

"Naw, you can get him, Kip!" Elaine cried. The human, Alice, merely clapped excitedly at the entertainment. Kip felt himself smiling wider than he had in weeks, despite himself.

"Brush it off, girl, you've got this one! Earthquake!"

"Light Screen!"

The earthquake toppled the tents, but nobody seemed to mind, as they crawled out, cheering. The Raichu had barely enough time to set up the protective barrier for the rest of its team members before he collapsed, and disappeared back into his Pokéball.

"Aurora, please make this kid stop doing his victory dance!"

Kieran did stop dancing with his Tyranitar, once he saw the majestic Lapras enter the field, looking ready to go.

"Powerhouse-"

"Aurora Beam!"

The Lapras fired a rainbow jet right at the Tyranitar's chest, knocking her flat down almost onto her master. Kieran recalled her before she bounced, and glared at the Lapras.

"Cheap!"

"Smart," Kip correct. Kieran fumed and threw out his Sharpedo.

"Chew on this! Rage!"

Bullet surged forward and tore at the Lapras, but did very little damage. Kip ogled him, confused. Even a repeat of Crunch would have done better than that.

"Body Slam him!" Kip commanded, and the Lapras did, doing much more damage than the rage.

"Rage!"

It did a deal more this time, and Aurora cried out. Still, Kip persisted.

"Alright, again!" The Sharpedo endured the hit once more, and Kieran grinned his fanged smile.

"Rage!"

It was enough. The Rage had built enough over the last two attacks to take the Lapras down, but the effort seemed to have worn out the Sharpedo as well, and they both fainted.

"Doubles now?"

"You're going down!"

In cries muddled from mixing, the trainers shouted their Pokémon's names. An Absol, Umbreon, Espeon, and Lugia materialized onto the field. Seaflyer drew some gasps from the crowd, but she just waved her head back, feeling like a princess.

"That's totally not fair."

"Deal with it!"

"Okay, but no Aeroblasts!"

"…Alright, fair enough. In that case, Fly! Psylight-"

"Lucky, take down that overgrown Wingull with-"

'_Who the hell are you calling a Wingull, you little-!'_

"-use Swift!-"

"-Night Slash and-"

'_No, seriously, WHAT did you just call me?'_

"Shadow, get her with – No! Not a critical!"

'_I am so mad you I wish you weren't a dark type so you could hear how pissed I am you little-"_

"Fine, Shadow! Return…Get 'em, Brother! Crunch!"

'_-Ah!'_

"Seaflyer!"

'_That Absol…That hurt more than it should have.'_

"His ability is that he crits more…"

'_Go figure…I'm out.'_

Kip returned her to her ball and fumbled with a new one. His Noctowl hit the field and, without waiting for audible orders, took Kip's slashing motion to mean Air Slash. It picked the Absol, simultaneously being pelted with a second Swift attack from the Espeon, and tottered to its knees.

"Alright, that's enough out of _you_," Kieran said, glaring at the Espeon. Sniper, his Sneasel and last Pokémon, appeared next to the Mightyena. "Bring them down! Formation Zero!"

Kip panicked and ordered his Espeon to use Sand Attack, but it didn't do much; he'd taken Kieran's bluff and left his Noctowl with no orders, and the Sneasel's Icy Wind coupled with the Mightyena's solid Take Down ended Nightflyer's time on the field. The Espeon looked confused and afraid of the dynamic duo now closing in on her. It looked like it was over-

"DARKFALLER!"

A snarling Houndoom appeared and rounded on the pair, then Howled. The Espeon bounced back with renewed vigour, standing with pride next to her companion. The cheers and calls from their onlookers swelled at the final showdown.

"Darkfaller, Psylight-"

"Sniper, Kokuei-

"R-RUN!"

They did. Without hesitation. Kip stood confused, reacting too late to the look of horror on Kieran's face. The cheers turned to screams to his left, and he turned away from Kieran's changing form to see a group in black uniforms grabbing the people in the tents and binding them. He couldn't see with what, but he _did_ see Al's electric abilities being absorbed into whatever it was, rendering his powers useless.

"Get out of here! Run! Run!" Kip ordered. His Houndoom, pained, obeyed, but his Espeon mewled and resisted.

"Take her!"

Darkfaller doubled back and snapped at her, forcing her to run. The Pokémon melted into the tall grass.

Kieran was snarling, fully Pokémon formed, attacking one of the black-suited men that had set upon them so suddenly. There was _nothing_ familiar about them, no logo, no marks, no-

Wait.

Just before he was caught by one of them, Kip saw a strange emblem on the right side of their breast. It was red, and some kind of flower, white around the edges. But his face hit dirt too quickly to absorb anymore, and he felt a needle penetrate the skin of his arm. His vision faded out, and the last thing he saw was Kieran, blood in his mouth and on his face from biting a finger off one of the assailants, being chained by no less than three.

Then he blacked out, to the sounds of snarls and yelps, with the same face swimming before his eyes that had for weeks.

_Gaby…_

First and foremost, Happy Birthday Paul. This is totally dedicated to you and got written because of you, and YES I'm going with your ideas…we'll see how far ;)

This is also for Lawrence, who also harassed me for long enough to sew the seeds in my head. Without you guys, this would have not been written tonight after over a year, so for that, I'm really, really grateful.

Second, this is totally unedited, so, if it sucks, leave comments so I know what to fix XD Hopefully, it all at least makes sense!

Third, and also very important: I love the rest of you who are actually still reading this, or have found it after all these years. You guys, you actually make me really happy and are my motivation for writing. I would be absolutely nowhere without you. I owe you everything, and I truly love you all. I might just be a sap. Who knows. But I do.

Oh, and not in the Lily-Seth kind of way, more the Kieran-Kokuei way. Yeah. YOU'RE MY BROS 3

FINALLY:

I really want to do this. Do not feel pressured in any way to participate, BUT!

I'll run a little contest thing. I guess it's a contest. It really would keep me motivated (who'd like to see this return to a weekly serial? ME! MEEE! I have TIME TO DO IT NOW.), so I'd appreciate it.

See, I love this story, and I love its characters. I also love art, and reading, and writing, and all sorts of creative things. If you also feel this way, then I really encourage you, and would appreciate it, if you feel like, you know, ever picking up a pencil and drawing some art of the characters! Or, maybe writing little stories, no matter how serious or silly or, hehehe, 'evil', or really anything you want related to RG. As a reward, I'll post it all on a website.

But even moreso, I've realized more and more that I write for _you_ guys. Your feedback went into this chapter; I listen to you. So talk to me. Submit something, I promise it will not only make my entire week, but you _will_ get a chapter out of it, and you can even put a little something in that chapter. A cameo character, an idea for a scene. You can write it yourself and I'll edit it into the flow, or you can give me your idea, and I'll just write it in. I'll also write you crack fiction (You know who you are ;D ) if you'd prefer that. I'm really open to ideas, as long as it doesn't go against the direction I'm planning on taking this in (though, as Paul proved, sometimes even that can happen if I love your idea and it works in conjunction with mine!).

Also, I think we should have a name for fans of RG, or even Morph fics in general (more have sprung up over the years o_O). So leave those ideas in the comments!

Please review if you've made it this far to let me know you still care, and as always, drop me a line at dragon1rogers(.)com (minus brackets). And I don't just want to hear about RG: I'd like to get to know you, too!

Carry on, and really, thank you,

M "R.T." C

PS:

Please don't kill me with bazookas. But you can if you really want.


	45. Ch45:Bonds Between Us

"Any word?"

"Look, Simon, I'm sure she's fine."

"How can you be sure? Her team hasn't checked in, they're way overdue, no word. They got snatched, I'm telling you!"

"They didn't get _snatched_, they had Al with 'em. That Electa-lug woulda shocked the hell out of anything that came near 'em, or punched 'em if they got too close."

"Then why haven't we heard anything?"

"Hey, I'm just as worried as you are. It's odd, I know, but maybe something came up. If they've not contacted in a few days, I'm sure Kane'll send a team after them."

"Kane'll just solve all our problems, huh? That's what everyone seems to think around here. _Kane_ this, _Kane_ that, Kane can-"

"Yes?"

The teenage Persian morph jolted, his cream-colored hair falling in front of his face as his black-tipped ears twitched in response to the sound of their commander's voice so near.

"Sir, I-"

"Simon," the Hitmonchan morph said tenderly, putting a hand on the Persian's shoulder. The other speaker shifted away from the scene with a half wave, disappearing around a corner, excusing himself.

"We're all worried. I've already sent a few of our Fliers to go look for them," Kane admitted. Simon's eyes widened. Then his brow furrowed and he looked at him levelly.

"Then _why_ wasn't an announcement made?"

Kane's eyes flicked away from Simon's, and he understood: they had gotten word back, and it wasn't good news.

"Where is she?" he asked, his voice rising. Kane gave him a look that told him he did not like his tone, and the grip on his shoulder tightened. Simon remembered who he was talking to, and backed down.

"I don't know. All we know is that they left Lilycove three days ago, and no one's seen them since."

Simon sank back out of Kane's reach and into the wall. Alice was his whole world. They'd come to this place together, to live out their lives in a place they didn't have to hide...where _he_ didn't have to hide. And now this lifestyle had taken its payment, and she was missing. He opened his mouth to say something, but Kane, already turned away, cut him off.

"I've already assigned you to the search party we're sending out on foot." He paused, as if about to add something, but simply walked around the corner from where he'd come, leaving Simon huddled against the wall, hugging himself, and vowing to find her and bring her home.

He opened his eyes, then shut them again. He'd never seen anyplace this white before; it was like staring up at a cloud, except it covered your whole eye, and it was room-shaped, and smelled bad and stung your nose, instead of smelling like fresh grass and sunlight.

* * *

There was a hum in the air, like a Beedrill was hovering nearby, but quieter. He pried one eye open and looked around. Just...whiteness. Warm, static whiteness. Not like winter (why had he thought of a _cloud_ first? Was it the temperature?). Winter was nice, felt good under your paws, made everything new and equal and sparkly. This was...just not nice at all.

He sat up and tilted his head to the sky. No clouds; just more whiteness. His keen eyes adjusted; tiles? In the ceiling? Little lights embedded in it, with glass in front of them.

But that _smell_! What was this awful place?

"Hello?" he called out to the ceiling, to no one in particular. No answer.

Then, panic gripped him. He didn't have his bag; his Pokémon were in there! He leapt up, growling, ears flattened against his head. His suspicions confirmed; this place was hostile.

He turned. One wall open, completely freeing him to the pale blue hallway outside! He lunged at it, and was knocked back by an invisible force. It _hurt_, and he howled like an animal, shuddering.

He rolled onto his side and was face to face with a familiar-smelling, familiar-looking girl. Her soft, reddish brown hair fell around her face, disheveled, eyelashes quivering with the disturbance of his cry.

"Alice!" Kieran said, recognizing her as the human from his team. He shook her gently, and was met with a groan not from her, but from his other side. He turned to see Kip, sprawled on the ground and groaning, his eyes opening slowly towards the ceiling. His head turned.

"Midget? S'that you?"

Kieran let it slide and turned back to Alice. He shook her again gently, and this time she roused. Her eyes fell on his face and relaxed with the recognition of her waker, but she stiffened when she realized the rest of her surroundings. She sat up too quickly and swayed; he held her up until she steadied.

"Elaine!" Alice cried out, and rushed behind Kieran to the fourth body in the room, the Furret Morph. She was still out cold, so Alice moved her into a more comfortable sleeping position against the wall. Kip, meanwhile, had moved to a sitting position, and was staring around at the room with a mixture of fear and hostility on his face.

"You know where we are, man?" Kieran asked, shuffling over to sit next to him.

"Where's Al?" Alice asked, sounding scared. Nobody had an answer for her; they all just sat in silence.

"Kip? Dude, where are we?" Kieran repeated. Kip set his jaw.

"Hell," he said ominously, staring past all of them. They were about to question him further, but a woman's voice stopped them. They turned to the opening of the room, where a girl with red and white hair was looking at them with emotionless eyes.

"You're awake…" she said, softly. The labcoat she wore buttoned swished around her ankles as she moved to the door lock. Everyone held their breath.

"I need the sleeping one," she said, in the same level, quiet tone. Instantly Kieran transformed and leapt in front of the sleeping Elaine, snarling and tense. Kip jumped up too, instinctively reaching for his belt, and his eyes went wide when he found his Pokéballs were missing as well.

"What have you done with them, Four?" he shouted. Kieran paused at the number, but the girl replied.

"Your Pokémon are safe in holding. Your Lugia is sedated for her violence. We noticed you were missing one. Where is the Houndoom?" She glanced at Kieran. "There was also a small, unidentified object we took from the Mightyena. What is it?"

_We must be at the Lab that made Gaby!_ Kieran finally realised. He barked his namesake at her menacingly and kept up his guard. He was pissed that they took the Gengar heart he'd obtained during the Nightmare, but that was the least of his problems right now.

Kip, meanwhile, stared at her stonily. Did she know about his powers? _N_o...his telekinesis had only developed after the Nightmare incident; he hadn't seen either of Sakio's mock-children since then. If she opened the door, if he could catch her off guard…

"There's no need for violence, Mightyena," 004 said.

He simply Howled and felt his strength bolstering. She frowned and drew a disruption pistol. Kip blinked at this; he'd never seen anyone at this lab have any kind of weapon before…

"I'm coming in. This is set to temporarily paralyse you, but undue strain is not recommended for your already weakened bodies."

She keyed in the password that shut the forcefield down, then flashed out her hand. A wave of telekinesis pushed Kip back into a wall before he could get his own attack out, and rooted Alice as well. Kieran, unaffected by the Psychic wave, leapt at her in a Bite attack as she approached Elaine. She fired expertly and stepped aside as he fell hard to the ground, unconscious.

Kip took his chance. He mentally sent 004 flying into a wall, knocking the pistol from her hand. Eerily, she didn't make a sound at the impact, but her concentration broke enough to let him wrench himself free of her mind-grip and set up a barrier to protect him. He dove for the pistol and grabbed it, pointing at her. She raised her hands in submission, her still blank expression unnerving him.

"Give it to me," Alice said, also free of 004's grasp. Kip looked at her, wary. She gave him a grin. "My dad's in the Hoenn navy, military all his life. I know how to handle that better than you, Kip Veeson."

"W-What?" he asked, momentarily distracted. She checked the gun and upped the settings, tossing her hair behind her as she trained it on the Latias morph in front of them.

"Grew up closer to the ocean than you, in Lilycove, on a high hill. Different neighbourhood, same city. I recognise you from trainer school, though," she smiled at him. "Good to have a neighbour in times of trouble!"

She set her eyes on 004 and her demeanour completely changed; militarily she ordered 004 to pretend to be leading them to the medical facilities to treat Kieran, and then to be taking the rest of the prisoners to see her boss. She would instead take them outside and follow them for several miles, and only then would she be released. Kip was impressed with her quick thinking, and hoisted Kieran over his shoulders. He then levitated Elaine up in front of him, and they marched out of the room, 004 in front, Alice behind with the pistol hidden in her pants, the floating Elaine after her and the laden Kip in the rear.

They passed a few scientists in the hallways; none stopped them, though a few gave Kip curious looks. Alice stared pointedly at the Morph in front of her, watching for the slightest sign of resistance, which was a good thing, since she was spared from the horrors in the cells to their left and right.

Morphs, humans, all were clustered together, sometimes as many as six to a small cell. Some still had resistance in them, and hollered as they passed by; others looked resigned, or too sick to react.

"Father."

Kip froze. There was Sakio, examining a computer monitor, just as they entered the main dome area. He took one look at them all, and before Kip or anyone could react, his hand was thrust out towards them, and Alice and Kip were in the air, frozen, Kip's barrier shattered easily. Elaine fell to the ground, as did Kieran off Kip's shoulders. Alice cried in vain and her eyes darted left and right, but to no avail; all her struggling wouldn't move her an inch. Kip could feel the power in his abilities; it was unreal, way stronger than his own or Seth's or even Gaby's; it was complete, precise, powerful.

"Jailbreak?" He asked. 004 nodded.

"The human, Kip. He's developed psychic abilities since last time. He caught me off guard. She took my disruptor and-"

"It's alright sweetheart," he said, cutting her off softly. "You didn't do anything wrong. Kip, how did you come by those powers?" he asked, as he lowered them both to the ground gently.

"None of your business," he answered, but with a hint of confusion in his voice. Something was definitely changed. Dr. Sakio wasn't grinning triumphantly as he normally would have been at foiling their escape for once. He seemed almost...angry? Was it because they had gotten this far? Or was it something else.

"I see. It is actually rather my business," he said, as he levitated the pistol out from Alice's waistband and onto the table, "But I can understand why you wouldn't want to share that information with me." He smiled, a little sadly.

_That_ was weird. Kip was bewildered; everything about the evil man seemed different, tweaked, and it irked him. But before he could ask anything, an unfamiliar, deep voice spoke from his left.

"Is there a problem, Doctor?"

Sakio stiffened, and motioned hurriedly to 004. She nodded, and they were all lead rapidly back the way they had come, leaving Elaine and Kieran where they lay. Kip tried to turn back to see the owner of the voice, but the door shut behind them before he could glimpse more than a tall man standing by Sakio, with the look on Sakio's face being one of utmost repressed loathing.

_What the hell is going on?_

* * *

"Gaby?"

She whipped around, covering herself. She'd been swimming with her Pokémon in one of the caves' large pools, and had transformed to stretch her wings and feel the raw energy of her Lugia body in a way she so rarely could do. That had meant being naked except for her bandana upon retaking her humanoid form, which was fine with just her Pokémon for company…

..But very much _not_ okay when morphs of the Sandslash variety come waltzing in. In this case, just one particularly cute one.

"ARCEUS, TYSON, G-GET OUT!" She yelled, sinking down under the water. Her voice echoed around the cavern, amplifying it. Tyson's tan face darkened a bit and he whipped around to face the wall. Gaby swam to the edge and peeked over.

"The hell do you want at this time of morning? How did you even know I'd be here?"

"You weren't in your room," he said nervously to the wall.

"So you thought it'd be okay to just burst in on me here?"

"Well I didn't think you'd be naked! We have baths, you know, if you wanna-"

"I KNOW that, dumbass!"

"Then why are you skinnydipping?" he asked, unable to stop himself from chuckling. "Not to say that you don't have the body for it-"

"How much did you see?" she said, face blazing red. He laughed.

"Nothing! Your back was turned; your hair's really long; covers most everything."

She eyed him, returning the favour of unknown observation. He had a nice form; his back was a coppery brown like the rest of him, the Sandslash spikes on half his body sloping downward from his shoulders, a small, pointed tail poking out from his jeans...

"Helloooo?" he asked, after several moments of silence. Gaby caught herself grinning, blinked, and frowned instead. "Can I, like, turn around now? Are you gonna put some clothes on or something? This wall isn't particularly interesting."

"Don't turn around," she mumbled. She climbed out of the water and wrung out her hair. Silversong rested in the pool behind her as she redressed, eyeing between the two of them with a look of interest.

"Alright," she announced, and he turned. He was grinning.

"So, do you have a good reason for interrupting me at 4 in the morning?" she asked, arms crossed. Her tail snaked around her leg, the fins on the end waving at him.

"Well…" he suddenly frowned. She sensed bad news.

"Spit it out," she said quickly. She knew it had to be about Kieran…

"Preliminary report got back, no sign of any of them, and...they left…well..." he sighed, and paused, as if trying to find the best way to say the worst.

"Say it!"

"The explosion was centred in Lilycove City," he said.

_Kip._

"How bad was it?" she asked, numb.

_Kip._

"Awful. Huge casualties. Apparently they waited till help came and firebombed the place a second time."

_Kip…_

"...So they're dead?"

"No! At least, they were alive when they left Lilycove. But something happened between there and here, because now they're off the map."

Her heart lightened, just a little. She pressed him for details.

"In Lilycove, did...Any word about Veesons or a Kip?" she asked anxiously.

"Right...That boy from before," he said. There was a tinge to his voice that confused Gaby, but he spoke again before she could identify it. "No idea. I'm sorry."

She knew the shots were slim for news on him. Could he have escaped the attack? What about his parents? She suddenly felt sick, remembering how hospitable the people had been when she'd been there.

_Oh no..._

"Why were they attacked?"

"We're guessing because…" he hesitated again. She finished his sentence after the uncomfortable silence had gone on long enough.

"Because of us. Sympathisers. Whoever did it is targeting us and people who've given us shelter." She turned on her heel and swore, frustrated. "So we have no idea where Kieran and the others are?"

"No. Completely gone. Fliers searched for days. They should have been back by now, which means something grabbed 'em or they've been otherwise delayed…"

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and blinked up at him. He was looking at her with soft black eyes. She felt her heart skip; his hand was warm and dry on her cold, wet t-shirted shoulder.

"We've not given up yet, Gaby. Kane's sending out a team to find 'em. I'm leading it. I came really to ask if you wanted to come along."

"Yes," she answered instantly. "When do we leave?"

"Few hours, once light's come. It's you, me, and couple other people. Nothing big, gotta stay discrete."

"Oh, yeah, you're real discrete," she said, managing to crack a smile, running a hand over one of the spines by his shoulder.

It fell off.

She shrieked and threw it to the floor.

"WHAT?"

"It's okay!"

"I'M SO SORRY!"

"Gaby-"

"AHH!"

"It's okay! They do that!" he said, laughing. She stared from him to the spine, breathing hard.

"They just..._DO THAT?"_

"Yeah...old spikes fall off, new ones grow back."

"That's not healthy."

"It's totally healthy!"

"If bits of me just fell off when I touched 'em, _I'd_ get pretty worried."

"...Maybe we should test them then?" he asked, giving her a sly look and a hungry grin. She stared at him.

"Oh my Arceus, you _pervert_."

With that, she turned and recalled all her team to their balls to prepare them for the journey, including Silversong, who shot a message at her just before he disappeared.

_"I'm pretty sure he likes you."_

_"SHUT. UP."_

* * *

Aw yeah. It's not a year. Sweet!

Bit of fluff in that one, eh? I wonder if I'm gonna get hatemail…

And _big_ things coming up in Rogue Genetics!

Love you all! Still send in your suggestions and ideas and art and fanstuff if you've got any!

- M. "R.T." C.


	46. Ch46:The Shadows and the Rose

His long, gold-ringed, furry ear twitched as he sat down in the lab to drink his coffee. He tried to ignore the couple in the doorframe to his lab, instead trying to momentarily savor the aroma of his sub-standard beverage, sniffing with his shiny black nose. It smelled burnt, and he wrinkled his muzzle, frowning.

"...love you," he heard, unwillingly. He tried as best he could to be invisible to the intimate moment, respectful enough to not be imposing on the two, but still wished they could have done this somewhere else. He sipped his coffee more quickly than he normally would have, and felt the cells in his tongue protesting, vowing to make him suffer for it later.

"...Think I love you, too. Yeah, definitely," came the girl's confident reply. He sat down in a chair and started quietly advancing through files, his paws a little cumbersome but not rendering the keyboard entirely useless to him.

The long silence that followed piqued his curiosity enough to glance behind him at the doorframe. A great deal of kissing and a measure of groping was going on. He sighed and turned fully.

"Could I suggest your enamoured make-out session be relocated elsewhere or at some point later? I feel like I'm intruding, but you are in _my_ lab."

The Mew morph _popped_ into his Pokémon form in surprise, and the Charizard Morph's hands slid from the air where the Sakio boy's butt had been. The look of irritation and violence she gave him made him blink and lean back slightly.

"Grow some feelings, Fur-Face," she said. She turned back to Seth, who was looking wildly between them, tiny furry hands held together under the sleeves of his now too-long labcoat. "See you later, okay?"

She leaned forward and pecked his cheek and, sending one last look of reproach at the bespectacled Umbreon Morph sitting blinking in his chair, departed out the door.

Seth floated over to his workstation and re-transformed, entirely human, and sat; his cheeks stayed the same color as his Mew form, however. He risked a glance over to the Umbreon, who gave him a tiny smile.

"How long have you been chasing her?" he asked, attempting to be apologetic and show interest. Seth mumbled something that sounded like, 'a long time', but was staring intently, still blushing, at some files on his desk. Mark didn't care enough to point out that the files he was holding were upside-down, so he simply shifted his glasses higher up his nose and turned back to his own files.

He opted for a more business-like tone instead to take his mind off his embarrassment. Despite his initial concerns, he'd grown to quite like Sakio's son, who had shown to be adaptable, a fast learner, interested in the subject matter at hand, and almost enjoyable to be around; far better than many of the other rebels in this place, who, like the Charizard morph, categorically disliked him for being like what had created so many of them. That, and his general air of arrogance and one-track mind in his love for his work, made him relatively unpopular in the place. Seth, however, he could stand.

"I want you to help me with a new treatment I've been developing," Mark said. Seth blinked and stood, walking over to his desk and leaning down over his shoulder to look at the display.

"It's a treatment that helps alleviate some of the degenerative problems that older lab-morphs have as they age. The-"

"The DNA starts to come apart in the older models, yeah, I've seen it before…" Seth cut in, scanning the screen. Mark's furry black paw navigated the mouse wheel to scroll and show him more of the diagnostic report. Then Seth's eyes widened, and he put his hand on Mark's to stop it.

"No…" He said, looking from the screen to Mark's furred face. The golden oval on his forehead wrinkled as his brow furrowed in a frown.

"Yes. So you understand why it's imperative that this becomes top priority."

Seth's eyes dropped, then met Mark's again. He realised the boy probably had a lot of experience in these matters, and his expression told him the prognosis wasn't good.

"The only one I've seen survive…" he started, hesitantly, "...is Dad. I mean, Sakio." He looked back at the screen, gently displacing Mark's paw to scroll through himself. "I'm guessing it was easier for him to adjust to the unbinding of the two DNA strains because he comes from a mostly synthetic Pokémon himself, but with-"

"There are others," Mark interjected. "I also should have reached the point of the beginnings of deconstruction and haven't yet, so it appears to be a non universal phenomenon. Similarly, natural borns don't unravel-"

"But that's just it, they're natural…" Seth said, almost distractedly, as he walked back over to his own station and called up the files himself. He pulled up a notepad and pencil and started scratching away on it.

"It doesn't matter; they're still Morphs," Mark argued. His dark ear flicked again. "They could be a key. We just need to imitate them and convince the patients' bodies that they're as natural as any given Pokémon."

"In a post-development stage? That late? I don't know if it can be done."

"We obviously have to try. Do you know any natural borns who would be willing to submit to a few tests?"

"You could use me," Seth mused, leaning back in the air where he floated. "I'm fairly sure spontaneous gene-awakening constitutes as a natural Morph birth." He stripped off his labcoat and started pulling his shirt over his head to expose his bicep for the needle.

"Will you be able to work with your own genes unbiasedly?" Mark asked with a smile, as he readied several containers for the blood.

"What, my DNA strands _are_ rather handsome."

"I know, you might get infatuated."

"Nah, I've already found someone for that."

"Yes, how could I forget the sounds of you lapping at each others' faces? Ah, there's the vein. Now just hold still and try to keep _some_ of the blood rushing to your face in your arm for me, alright, Mr. Sakio?"

* * *

"Doctor Sakio."

He stiffened. The little hand wrapped around his finger gripped tighter as the owner of the voice entered the dim room.

"Tucking your little one into bed for the night? Is she feeling any better?"

The words were concerned; the tone was mocking. He gently uncurled her fingers from his index and laid her hand on her chest; her skin was still hot and dry, the skin flaking under his delicate touch. He leaned down to kiss his daughter's wilted green hair tenderly, then rose, turned, and walked straight out of the room, past the taller, imposing man looking down on his mild move of disrespect; but he was _not_ going to deal with him anywhere around 003. She didn't need any more upsetting.

"I take it that's a no," the man said, and he turned to approach her. She gave a little cough in the darkness, a pitiful, high-pitched cough that pained Sakio worse than physical wounds.

"Roseark."

The call was warning, a protective parent guarding his young. The man turned to face him, pearly white teeth glinting out of the dark at him in a smile.

"I was just going to tell her a story."

"She doesn't need a story," Sakio retorted, as calmly as he could. His left hand was curled into a tight fist in his pocket, shaking. He channeled everything to that part of his body, containing it there safely. If he struck him, he was dead, as was the rest of his family.

"But I had such a good one planned," he said, turning back. He strode to the chair Sakio had been sitting in only minutes ago and sat down. He leaned in close to 003, but his words were still clear:

"One day, there was a little princess who lived on high and thought she was better than everyone else. You see, the little girl had special powers, just like you. She could move things with her mind, and loved to run and play and hurt other people. Sometimes it was by accident, but sometimes she enjoyed it and did it on purpose."

He could barely contain himself. Every part of him wanted to psychically twist Roseark's head 360 degrees until the blood spurted out of him like a fountain, but he knew the psychic inhibitor he wore was too much for even his own powers.

"Daddy?"

This was unbearable.

"One day the citizens of the town, tired of being mocked by the little perfect princess, got all their Pokémon together and marched up to the castle. They knocked on her door, demanding that she come out and give up her power to the rest of them. It was unfair, they said, that she could abuse them like that. Do you know what she did?"

"D-Daddy?"

"She said no. So the townspeople burst into the castle and found the little girl. They grabbed her like this-"

His hands lunged out and grabber her fragile, rash-covered wrists. She screamed. Sakio took a lunging step forward and echoed her cry, his voice breaking.

"Roseark, stop this!"

"-And they tied her down, and they sewed parts of Pokémon all over her. They sewed her bits and pieces to her until she was an abomination, just like you!" He chuckled. "And then everyone could see that she was a freak on the outside as well as on the inside-"

"It hurts!"

_"Roseark!"_

"-And that's how you were born. And now where is the pretty princess? Disfigured, sick, suffering for having all the power while the ones who deserve it have none."

He let her hands fall and stood up, leaving 003 crying, holding her raw wrists above the bedsheets. Sakio rushed past him to her, putting himself between Roseark and the tiny girl, all his attentions focused on her.

"It's alright, Little Flower," he said, stroking her hair and cheeks. "It's alright."

"When is your agent due back? I'm getting anxious for his findings. I don't like being anxious, you know. Makes me break out in hives."

"Maybe I can prescribe you something for those," Sakio said through gritted teeth, taking care to keep his hands steady on 003's tender skin. "Something laced with cyanide or arsenic, perhaps."

"You're always good for a laugh, James!" Roseark laughed, clapping Sakio on the back forcefully. "Always _tickle_ me. Now send word for him to hurry on home."

"It takes time to do proper analysis of these things. He doesn't want to make a mistake." _He never wants to make any mistakes...Desperate to prove himself…Five..._

"Tell him to hurry up," Roseark said, putting a maroon-gloved hand over Sakio's shoulder, sliding the thick fingers down and gripping the joint painfully, "Or we'll send one of his sister's hands by Pidgey to him, and see if that doesn't hurry him home with my information."

"…I'll send him a message," Sakio said, in complete resignation. His head fell to his chest. He felt more helpless than he had…

...than he had since _he'd_ been the one in the cage. And here he was again, only now his cage was his lab, instead of one of the cells in it.

He didn't hear Roseark's chuckle and reply, nor the door close behind him as he left, enveloping the room in darkness, except for a little Illumise-shaped nightlight in the corner outlet. He climbed over the body of his little girl and lay there, holding her, stroking her hair, for as much his own comfort as hers, listening distantly to the sounds of her slow, rhythmic breathing as she fell asleep.

His eyelids started to droop. He was exhausted. His hand slowed and finally stopped on 003's head, though his mind was still running with memories a quarter of a century old. Somewhere between the dreamwake, he drifted back to a time long before all this mess, before his children, before his wife's death, before Giovanni.

_..._

_"Jamie!"_

The park was a sea of black gowns, the ground beneath them black with graduation caps left there in favour of running to hug friends and take pictures with teachers. James turned from trying to find his fallen tassel, his own cap in his hands, to the voice of his best friend Ian. His friend's dark hair, normally relatively ordered, was disheveled from the cap he had predictably lost, but his characteristic wide grin was still in place as always.

_"What's up man!"_ James cried, giving up the search for his lost tassel and running up to him. He lifted his gown so as not to trip, and Ian laughed.

_"Dude, you look like a woman,"_ he laughed. James punched him lightly in the arm when he reached him.

_"We all look in women in these, don't try to be special."_

_"But I _am _special, right Mom?"_ he whined, turning back to where his mother was standing. They couldn't look more different, her with her long blonde hair and him with his short black, her high cheekbones and her gaunt face, but their gray eyes were both the same, and that alone made them look like family. She was like a mother to James, too, and he eagerly approached her to give her a hug.

_"Look at my boys,"_ she said, warmly. _"Not failures after all. I'm so proud of both of you!"_

_"Far from failures. James got honors, didn't you see?"_ Ian said, nudging him with his elbow and wiggling his eyebrows. James reddened.

_"Makes me wonder why you didn't,"_ she said, cocking an eyebrow at her son. He rolled his eyes.

_"I got into the same high end special magical college, didn't I? Doesn't that count for something?"_

She pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the cheek. He struggled away from her as James laughed, but was pulled into the same embrace.

_"You two are going to be brilliant scientists one day, helping humanity and Pokémon all over the world._" She swooned happily and released them from her motherly embrace, then looked around, concerned. _"Where are Bel and Carrie, anyway? I didn't think you two went anywhere without your girlfriends."_

_"We don't!"_ James said, and put two fingers in his mouth and whistled.

_"Murkrow!"_ came Carrie's familiar call. She fluttered from one National Park's many trees and settled on his his arm. He stroked her beak affectionately and she cawed again.

Ian made no such signal, but simply lifted up his gown to expose his Poochyena scratching herself. She stopped and bounded out, tail wagging.

_"Please do not tell me she's been there the whole time,"_ his mother pleaded. Ian smirked.

_"They told me to leave my best non-human friend at home. Like hell that was going to happen!"_ He picked up the puppy, who licked his face. _"Who's one of Johto's finest graduates? Hm? Who's going to go on to rule the world with their brilliance?"_

Bel licked his face and he laughed. James chuckled and shifted Carrie to his shoulder.

_"I can't believe it'll only be two months and you guys will be gone to Olivine. You're never going to come visit me. Pidgey flown the nest, but I suppose all Pidgeot mothers have to watch their babies fly away eventually."_

Despite her overacting and Ian's and her laughing afterward, as they exited the pavilion and went to get dinner, James had to suppress tears at that. He'd gone from failing to straight As in three years at the encouragement of one boy and his mother, who had enabled him to escape from his unhappy household and taken him in as if he'd always been there. Now it was like a dream, going away to live in the Olivine University for Science and Engineering, him for biomedical engineering, Ian for mechanical, and he was loving every moment of his life.

During a quiet moment at dinner, when Ian had gone up to sing karaoke surprisingly well on the stage, with Bel howling tunelessly along with him at his ankles, James leaned across the table and looked Mrs. Evalon in the eyes.

_"I...I just wanted to say thanks,"_ he said. She smiled. _"And...that I will come visit you. I'll make Ian come too. Really. At least sometimes."_ He paused, and then opened his mouth again. She smiled, but no words were coming out. He felt light, floaty. All he heard was the howling from Bel on the stage, and he turned to look at her black fur, gleaming brightly on her, then dulling.

His vision faded as he opened his eyes to 003's dark room. He was exhausted; he really should move to his own quarters if he was going to sleep tonight.

He didn't need memories right now, at any rate. He needed rest to find a cure to keep the living living; the dead could stay ghosts in his mind for now.

* * *

YES, many new people being introduced. So far, Alice, Simon the Persian Morph, Mark the Umbreon Morph, and this Ian person from Sakio's past. More to come too, so sorry if it's a bit of a roller coster. This is a really tangled arc and I hope you'll all stick around for the ride!

...Omg, where did Sakio's Murkrow go?

;_;

-M "R.T." C.


End file.
